One of the most modern radiotherapy centres of Europe in Budapest

Magyaridok.hu reports that the National Institute of Oncology in Budapest will become one of the most modern radiation centres in the continent, as all of the old machines will be replaced, lifting the Hungarian radiotherapy to the upper mid-range standards of Europe.

The latest construction-development in the National Institute of Oncology will begin in March and presumably end by the end of the year or the beginning of 2018. Thus, the complete machinery of the radiotherapy department will be replaced by new ones, including the necessary bunkers, as well.

Miklós Kásler, professor and Director General of the Institute told the site that five of the six machines were considered obsolete, two of which were replaced earlier from their own budget (worth about 1.5 billion HUF) and three will be changed to better ones within a few months.

The new machines include two accelerators, an 18-year-old cobalt cannon, and a CyberKnife, which is a power saving machine of the most modern technology. The latter is a linear accelerator connected to robotic arms, and shall be extremely accurate, as the beam can be pointed from nearly all positions to tumours in any parts of the body.

The new machines also require the radiation-protection of the bunkers to be improved and strengthened. Once everything is ready, the Institute will have seven radiotherapy machines of the most modern technologies of their own kinds. Thus, it will become one of the most modern radiotherapy centres in Europe.

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This improvement bears a great significance in Hungary, for the major cause of death is regarded to be cancer, and here, on a yearly basis, 9,000 people with tumour are treated with radiotherapy. The Director General also mentioned that the appreciation for radiotherapy has majorly improved, even though the main treatments include surgery and chemo as well.

But new technologies allow the doctors to destroy the tumour with great efficiency while providing more protection for the healthy tissues around. Although not every patient at the oncology needs radiotherapy, it can help most of them a lot.

Importantly, the civil organisations fighting against cancer provide informative and educational materials and screenings in order to recognise the tumour on time. Accordingly to Zoltán Ónodi-Szűcs, Minister of State for Health Care, the individuals are also responsible for the prevention of cancer.

Apparently, all kinds of screening are available in Hungary, yet, there are barely some people who actually go to these tests. Unfortunately, the number of people with tumour continuously increased between 2005 and 2015 despite the fact that more than 500 billion HUF of EU contribution were spent on healthcare developments, of which 80 billion were spent on the early recognition, prevention, and the curing of cancer.

Copy editor: bm

Photo: MTI 

Source: magyaridok.hu