The newly acquired state-of-the-art Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) machine for patient care was dedicated at NEIGRIHMS today by the institute’s director Prof. Nalin Mehta.
Prof. Mehta said that NEIGRIHMS has made steady progress to make comprehensive and advanced cancer care available to the people of the North East region who otherwise travel to other parts of the country for cancer treatment.
Surgical oncologist Dr Caleb Harris highlighted the application of HIPEC explaining that it is used for installation of heated chemotherapeutic agents into the abdominal cavity for effective treatment of peritoneal malignancies.
NEIGRIHMS medical superintendent Dr C Daniala,said that the institute strives to offer the latest advances in cancer care to patients of North East India.
HIPEC has several advantages over standard chemotherapy. It is a single treatment done in the operating room, instead of multiple treatments over several weeks, and 90 per cent of the drug stays within the abdominal cavity, thereby decreasing the toxic effects of chemotherapy on the rest of the body, while allowing for a more intense dose.
This offers hope for patients with dreaded cancers, for which the treatment otherwise was only palliative.
HIPEC procedure was successfully performed in NEIGRIHMS earlier and now that the institute has procured this sophisticated equipment so that numerous patients can benefit.