By Eulalee Thompson, Staff Reporter 
State-of-the-art Linear Accelerator used for radiation therapy. - Winston Sill
Multi-million dollar cancer treatment centre opens
A MULTI-MILLION dollar cancer treatment centre, containing state-of-the art radiotherapy equipment, opened in Kingston recently.
The Radiation Oncology Centre of Jamaica (ROCJ), located on Ruthven Road, is the brainchild of well-known consultant radiologist, Dr. Winston 'Freddie' Clarke. He has pooled the skills of other health professionals into this dream which he is characterising as "the final frontier in medical technology".
Dr. Clarke said that the centre housing the most up-to-date technology in radiation treatment is the first of its kind in Jamaica and the Caribbean. He claims that this new centre contains 80 to 90 per cent of the cancer treatment technology available in First World countries and therefore, almost puts Jamaica on par with developed countries in the quality of radiation therapy.
"This is the same kind of treatment that some people travel abroad to receive...this will mean considerable savings in foreign exchange," Dr. Clarke said.
He, for example, indicated that radiation therapy overseas for cancer of the prostate could cost between US$55,000 and US$60,000, but the cost to use the local centre will run between US$10,000 and US$15,000.
There are already two other radiotherapy centres in Jamaica both in the the public sector located at the Kingston Public Hospital and the Cornwall Regional Hospital. Both centres use a Cobalt-60 source to emit radiation. However, the new centre does not use a Cobalt-60 source but a simulator and a Linear Accelerator for radiation therapy.
These equipment, said Dr. Collie Miller, the centre's medical physicist, are able to deliver radiation beams more precisely to the tumour site. There are no 'scatter shots' with the new equipment, according to Dr. Clarke.
The simulator unit is a movable table (on which the patient lies) and a rotating gantry that registers different views and angles of the patient. Dr. Miller said that in the simulator room (with an external control and computer area) patients experience a 'dress rehearsal' of the planned treatment sessions.
"This machine provides essential information for the direction of the radiation beams, setting up all the parameters for the treatment," he said.
Four lasers align the patient with precision; special devices immobilise the patient so that the treatment area can be more accurately demarcated and X-rays take various views and angles of the patient. All this and other parameters enable a clear and precise definition of the treatment area. With the treatment parameter clearly defined and stored on computer, the patient is ready for the Linear Accelerator (Linac).
A heavy, lead-lined door takes one to the room called the Vault where the Linear Accelerator is housed. The lead-lined door, maze-like hallway leading to the machine and thick concrete and steel walls are special design features indicating the intensity of the radiation emitted by the equipment.
Dr. Miller said that patients are in the treatment room for between 15 and 20 minutes but actual exposure to the radiation beam will be only a fraction of that time.
The benefits of the state-of-the-art technology, said Dr. Venslow Greaves, the centre's radiation oncologist, lies in its precision translating into less exposure of normal tissues to the beam and in its skin-sparing effect meaning that the skin reaction is not as bad since the patient is exposed to less radiation dose to achieve the same treatment effect.
