Friday, December 10, 2010

Elekta Compact’ Radiation Therapy machine Radiation Therapy machine installed at CMC

Ludhiana: A Radiation Therapy machine installed atChristian Medical College, Ludhiana (CMCL) which is a premier institute of the region providing Radiotherapy facilities for Cancer patients since 1938. Performance of new machine also demonstrated before media. It was the 1st centre in the region to provide Megavoltage Radiotherapy in 1958 by installation of Eldorado-A Teletherapy machine which was received by Govt. of India under Colombo Plan and donated to the institute. The institute has upgraded its facilities by installing a 6MV Linear Accelerator, ‘Elekta Compact’ Radiation Therapy machine. It is Elekta’s 1st unit to be equipped with Multileaf Collimator (MLC) and Electronic Portal Imaging Device (EPID). 
It is ably supported by Spiral CT Scan, 1.5 T MRI and other imaging equipments already existing in the Radiodiagnosis department, Advanced CMS Treatment Planning System, Mosaiq workstation and complete Radiation Dosimetric equipment. With all this infrastructure, it will be possible to deliver Conventional Radiation Therapy, 3-Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy (3-D CRT) and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). These techniques help to tailor the Treatment volume to the précised Target volume thus sparing the normal tissues entrapped by and/ or around the tumour to the maximum. This facilitates to reduce the complications of treatment and increase the compliance to the planned treatment, thus increasing the probability of cure. 
With the availability of this equipment, CMCL is able to provide Comprehensive Cancer Treatment Services fully supported by Dept of General Surgery and its specialties including Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Medical Oncology & Heamatology providing Bone Marrow Transplant facilities and supportive services for Palliative care. Further, this facility complies to the mission of the institution ie., Provision of State of Art facilities in Medicare which are community oriented, need based and affordable to the masses at large. 
The department is under the dynamic leadership of Dr M K Mahajan ably assisted by Dr Jaineet SachdevaDr Pamela JeyarajDr Raja Paramjeet and Dr Sapna, all well trained Radiotherapists. Mr Murali Rajan, the Medical Physicist & Radiation Safety Officer will be looking after the equipment, Treatment Planning and the Quality Assurance programme.This facility is possible due to the commitment to bring state of art facility to CMC and the community by the administration of CMCL. It will be dedicated on 10th of December by Dr Rajinder Gyani, Chairman, Governing Board of Christian Medical College, Ludhiana & Society.  ---Rector Kathuria