The view of the AFRA designated centre on how to respond to the - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The view of the AFRA designated centre on how to respond to the challenges in PRO in the region Mahmoud M. ElGantiry Professor of Radiation Oncology National Cancer Institute Cairo University melgantiry@yahoo.com 1

Outlines • The AFRA designated centre: • The challenges in PRO: – Challenges in management of PRO. – Challenges in PRO in the African region. • The AFRA designated centre response to the challenges: 2

Outlines • The AFRA designated centre: • The challenges in PRO: – Challenges in management of PRO. – Challenges in PRO in the African region. • The AFRA designated centre response to the challenges: 3

• Nuclear Energy: – Reactors, disposal of radioactive waste etc. • Industry. • Agriculture. • Health: – Radiation Oncology. – Radiation Physics. – Nuclear medicine. – Other projects.

RDC • The concept of Regional Designated Centre (RDC): Radiation Oncology and Medical Physics: – Training Centre. – Experts. – Research. – Treatment guidelines. • Recognition of RDC: – English speaking countries: • South Africa: 2000. • NCI – Cairo University: 2006. – French speaking countries: • Morocco: 2003 5

Outlines • The AFRA designated centre: • The challenges in PRO: – Challenges in management of PRO. – Challenges in PRO in the African region. • The AFRA designated centre response to the challenges: 6

Challenges in management of PRO • The survival: • The late radiation effects: 7

Challenges in management of PRO • The survival: • The late radiation effects: 8

Challenges in management of PRO: The survival. • It has improved in the last decades: – The expected cure rate is ~ 80%. • Main causes of these results: – The multidisciplinary approach. – Use of effective systemic treatment. – Proper use of the local treatments; surgery and radiotherapy (RT). – The majority of patients were treated in controlled randomized studies. 9

Challenges in management of PRO: The late radiation effects • RT may produce late effects which are generally more severe compared with adult patients: – Growth retardation. – Endocrinal disorders. – Neurocognitive deficits. 10

Challenges in management of PRO: The late radiation effects Factors contributing to late radiation effects: • Age at receiving the radiation. • Treatment volume: – The volume of normal tissue irradiated. • The total tumor dose. • Dose per fraction. • The sequence of treatment used e.g. CTh during RT may cause severe effects. 11

Challenges in management of PRO: How to limit the late radiation effects: • Modification of RT techniques: – Tailoring the dose according to age. – Reducing the tumor dose. – Reducing the irradiated volume. – Excluding some normal tissues. – Improvement of planning procedures. – Use of new RT techniques. • Postponing RT until patient is older. • Use of combined chemo-radiotherapy. 12

How to limit the late radiation effects: • Tailoring the dose according to age: – Different international groups have tested the tailoring of the radiation tumor dose to the age of the patient. – These studies have shown high survival rate with less late toxicity as in Wilms’ tumors and neuroblastoma. 13

How to limit the late radiation effects: • Reducing the tumor dose: – Combined chemo-radiotherapy may be given instead of RT alone. – The RT is lower in dose and smaller in volume which causes less morbidity e.g. early stages of HD. 14

How to limit the late radiation effects: • Improvement of planning procedures: – Better fixation with use of anesthesia if needed. – Better delineation of target volume and OAR. • The use of new imaging modalities such as CT scan, MRI and PET. – More sophisticated TPS. – Better treatment delivery methods e.g. MLC. – Accurate treatment verification methods. 15

How to limit the late radiation effects: The use of modern RT techniques: e.g. • Conformal RT, • Stereotactic radiosurgery, • Intense modular RT (IMRT), • Image guided RT (IGRT) • Tomotherapy. 16

How to limit the late radiation effects: • Postponing RT until patient is older: – In view of the severe late radiation effects to children below 3 years: • Postpone RT and may use CTh till patients are older e.g. brain tumors. 17

Outlines • The AFRA designated centre: • The challenges in PRO: – Challenges in management of PRO. – Challenges in PRO in the African region. • The AFRA designated centre response to the challenges: 18

The challenges in PRO: Challenges in PRO in the African region. • Lack of statistics. • Lack of the equipment. • Lack of trained personnel. • Lack of the specialized pediatric oncology centers: – It is generally managed by same personnel. • Lack of the specialized pediatric oncology programs (Academic and training). 19

AFRICA - 2nd largest continent. - Population: ~ 800 m. - Countries: 56. - The least developed.

Current RT Services in Africa: 2006 (V. Levin) Western standard 250,000/machine < 2 million/machine 2 - 10 million/machine > 10 million/machine No known machines Inoperable machines Zambia New Projects underway

Assessment of present status: I- Equipment: Megavoltage machines (LA&Cobalt-60) • Number of countries: 56 countries. – Population: ~ 800 m. • > 50% of African countries have NO RT. • Africa needs: – International standards (1MVM / 250,000): 3200 MVM – (1MVM / 1,000,000): ~ 800 MVM • Number of MVM in Africa: ~190 MVM. • Egypt (~75 m): ~ 71 MVM ~ 2/3 • South Africa (~49 m): ~ 58 MVM

Assessment of present status: (Levin 2006) II- Training requirements: Decade 2006 – 2016 • Self-sustaining countries: – EGY, SA, MOR, NIG, ALG, TUN, ZIM. • Other countries: – 135 RO need to be trained. – 65 Medical physicists need to be trained.

Assessment of present status: (Levin 2006) III- Level of RT practice: • Up to level 3: – ALG, EGY, MOR, SA, TUN. (Conventional 2DRT: The commonest tech) • Level 1-2: – Rest of the countries. Three Levels of Absorbed Dose Computation Sophistication: (ICRU 50) • Level 1: Basic Techniques: (1D). • Level 2: Advanced Techniques: (2D). • Level 3: Developmental Techniques: (e.g. 3DCRT) (3D).

Challenges in RO in the African region. • "A silent crisis in cancer treatment exists in developing countries and is intensifying every year“. Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA Director General. • "We do not have sufficient RT facilities or staff to treat the coming cancer crisis in the developing world." Bhadrasain Vikram, IAEA Radiation Oncologist. (PR 2003/11 - 26 June 2003)

Outlines • The AFRA designated centre: • The challenges in PRO: – Challenges in management of PRO. – Challenges in PRO in the African region. • The AFRA designated centre response to the challenges: 26

The response to the challenges by AFRA designated centre (NCI-Cairo University): Challenges in management of PRO: • Establishing PRO unit. Challenges in PRO in the African region: (Equipment acquisition) • Relying on NGO,s and private sector. 27

NCI – Cairo University • PRO unit: – Experts. – Trained staff. – Multidisciplinary approach. • PRO unit & IAEA offer: – Awareness. – Training (short and long term). – Expert missions. – Clinical research. – Guidelines. 28

Bridging the Gap in Equipment • Governments. • IAEA: – AFRA. – Regional Designated Centers. • ? Regional organizations: e.g. African Union. • NGO’s. • Private sector.

Service providers of RO in EGY LA Co-60 Total Government 27 11 38 Private 16 5 21* NGO,s 11 1 12* Total 54 17 71 * Private + NGO,s ~ 50% 30

Lateral thinking ??? ??? Alternatives • The acquisition of RT equipment is very slow in Africa. • If we wait until the attitude changes; we may have to wait for decades. • The Egyptian experience: –Private sector: –NGO’s:

??? Lateral thinking: I- Private sector: • Establishing Oncology Centers initially RT and CTh: – + Lab + Radiodiagnosis (CT scan and MRI). • The design of the center is uniform and the equipments are the same: – Lower cost of design and price of equipments. • Sound economical basis: – For sustainability and continuity of the project. – At some stage “giving back to community” e.g. “not-for-profit” centers.

??? Lateral thinking: I- Private sector: • Involvement of local RO,MP and RTT and other staff. • Good investment environment; preferably with governmental guarantees is required. • I suggest PACT as the body to study this idea.