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Ms. Marina Geli opens the second linear accelerator in
Girona |
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With the new equipment, all the population from Girona
who require radiation therapy can be treated in their own sanitary
area, which will minimize the patients’ having to move to other
centres. |
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The two accelerators that offer their services to Girona and its
region are located at the Institut Català d’Oncologia
(ICO), which is situated in an annex to the University Hospital Josep
Trueta. |
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Ms. Marina Geli, responsible for the Health
Department , together with Mr. Ferran Cordón, director of the
Health Territory Services in Girona, and Mr. Ramon López, Chairman
of the ICO, have opened at midday today, in the Institut Català d’Oncologia
(ICO), the new linear accelerator which will provide with its services
the patients from Girona who suffer from cancer and who need treatment
with radiation therapy. This equipment has meant an investment of € 2,665,000.
The opening has also featured ICO’s general manager, Mr.Joaquim
Esperalba, the director of the ICO centre in Girona, Mr.Josep M. Vila,
and the Head of the Service of Radiation Therapy Oncology, Mr.Lluís
Anglada.
Technological renovation
The new accelerator substitutes the Cobalt 60 unit, which turned
out to be inadequate to treat certain types of tumours. It is a
twin machine of the one which is already in use; this allows us
to increase functionality since they can be used indifferently
in case one of them breaks down or has to be checked. Besides,
the technological innovation permits a better control to define
clearly the part of the body that must be irradiated, and makes
it easier to monitor the patients along the treatment.
The works that
have had to be done in order to make the space adequate and to
install the new linear accelerator have lasted nearly one
year. ICO has continued treating the same number of patients as if
we had been working with both machines, thanks to the setting up
of a night shift.
ICO counts now on 10 linear accelerators, which
is the highest technological endowment for the cancer treatment in
our state and one of the highest
in Southern Europe. As a result, ICO treated more than 4,300 patients
in 2005. Out of these, more than 20% underwent radiation therapy
treatment in Girona.
Radiation therapy oncology in Girona: projects for the future
ICO foresees an increase in the need for treatments with radiation
therapy in Girona in the next years because of two main reasons.
On the one hand, cancer is a disease associated to ageing; therefore,
the higher life expectation is, the more frequent cancer will become
among the population. On the other hand, ICO is the centre of reference
in radiation therapy for all the population in Girona but it is also
so, in addition, for some areas and pathologies away from Girona;
such is the case of the city of Vic as far as lung and oesophagus
cancers are concerned.
Radiation therapy treatments in Girona |
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ICO, the greatest concentration
of linear accelerators in the State
The Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO) counts on 10 linear
accelerators distributed in its three centres:
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ICO in Hospitalet – Duran i Reynals Hospital: 5 linear accelerators |
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ICO in Girona – Doctor Josep Trueta Hospital: 2 linear accelerators;
the last one was installed last July and it is still in the trying
phase. |
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ICO in Badalona – Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital: it has
3 linear accelerators, one of which was installed last year and it
features technologic innovations that allow us to use the IMRT technique. |
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10 march 2007 |
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