Chennai: Chennai will now have a ‘first-of-its kind’ world class facility for thyroid cancer, to be operated by the nuclear medicine department at Omandurar Government Super Multi Specialty Hospital. The radioactive iodine therapy ward is all set to come into operation within a month, said Dr E. Prabhu, senior consultant and head of the department of nuclear medicine.
The ward, set up at a cost of over Rs 2 crore, already has a waiting list of around 70 patients. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has sanctioned clearance for treating four patients simultaneously in this institution.
The rooms are designed to keep patients comfortable as they are required to stay inside for over two days till radiation levels comes down to acceptable limits. “There are specially constructed drains, which lead to two tanks known as the ‘delay tanks’, where the biological wastes of patients are stored for over three months till radiation level comes down before being discharged into the general hospital sewage system. This is in strict adherence to the guidelines of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board,” Dr Prabhu said, adding that the linen used by the patients will be stored separately in an isolated storage room for about three months till there is no radiation emitted from them before it is washed and reused.
The principle is that radioactive iodine containing medication will act upon microscopic level of cancer cells and completely destroy them without causing harm to the patient. “This will be administered in the form of capsules so that it will be easy for the patient to swallow without any spillage of radioactive iodine accidentally. Once the patient takes the capsule, he becomes the walking source of radiation and that is the reason why he is admitted in this specially constructed facility so that the public is not exposed to radiation emitted by them,” said Dr Santhosh, Associate consultant, department of nuclear medicine, Omandurar Hospital.
The patient will be closely monitored by qualified radiological safety officer and will be permitted to come out of these special facilities only after confirmation that the radiation emitted from them are within acceptable norms as per international standards, he said.
