Vietnam lacks cancer radiotherapy machines, running at 5 times capacity

This is the information reported by experts at the national conference updating progress in cancer radiotherapy on November 27.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said, the burdencancerIn Vietnam, the number of deaths from this disease is constantly increasing, with nearly 320 people dying every day.

Despite these achievements, Vietnam’s oncology sector still faces many difficulties. Over 70% of cancer patients come for examination and treatment at a late stage, so treatment is limited and costly.

In treatment, radiotherapy is one of the three classic methods along with surgery and chemotherapy, contributing 50% to the success of cancer treatment. In Vietnam, nearly 60% of cancer patients have to use this method.

Radiotherapy can be applied to all stages of the disease, in addition to radical treatment, it can also be combined with tumor shrinkage before surgery and pain relief for patients in the final stages.

Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan said that more than 70% of cancer patients in Vietnam come to the hospital at a late stage.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Van Quang, Director of K Hospital, said that the hospital currently has 8 radiotherapy machines, including accelerator radiotherapy, breathing radiotherapy, and Gamma knife, which are among the most modern radiotherapy machines in the region and on par with the world, helping to treat more effectively and with fewer complications.

Previously, 2D radiation for head and neck cancer could cause jaw blockage, dry mouth, and jaw stiffness, but with modern radiation techniques, many side effects have been reduced.

With the old radiation technique, when the patient breathes, the tumor will deviate from the breathing rhythm while the radiation beam is still directed straight, so it is less effective. Now, radiation according to the breathing rhythm overcomes this limitation.

However, Associate Professor Quang admitted that the current number of radiotherapy machines is still not enough to meet treatment needs. Although the number of patients having to undergo radiotherapy at night has decreased compared to before, it still exists, with many cases receiving radiotherapy until 10 p.m. Therefore, in the near future, the hospital will have to buy more new machines, especially heavy particle and proton radiotherapy.

Associate Professor, Dr. Ngo Thanh Tung, Director of the National Center for Radiotherapy, Head of Department of Radiation 1, K Hospital said that on average, every day there are about 800-900 patients requiring radiotherapy, so there are times when the radiotherapy machine operates 24/7.

“According to the recommendation, there must be 1 accelerator for every 1 million people. We have invested but it is clearly not enough. Also according to the recommendation, each machine can only treat 40-60 patients, but the machine at the hospital continuously operates up to 200 people/day,” Associate Professor Tung shared.

Cancer radiation therapy patients at K Hospital.

With nasopharyngeal cancer, 20 years ago, the 5-year survival rate was only 33% but now it has increased to 65%;Lung cancerOn average, in previous years, people only lived 1 year longer, now it's 2 years; malignant brain cancer, in previous years, people only lived 4-8 months longer, now the average is 2 years...

A typical case is that of patient Nguyen Thi Huong, who had been treated for breast cancer for 6 years, then became pregnant and had to stop treatment, causing her to fall into a coma and be in critical condition due to the tumor metastasizing to the brain and compressing it. Fortunately, she received timely radiosurgery, after 3 times, the size of the brain tumor was reduced by 50%, and her health was stable.