Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California.
Department of Oncology, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2014 Jul 1;89(3):462-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2013.12.008.
West Africa has one of the highest incidence rates of carcinoma of the cervix in the world. The vast majority of women do not have access to screening or disease treatment, leading to presentation at advanced stages and to high mortality rates. Compounding this problem is the lack of radiation treatment facilities in Senegal and many other parts of the African continent. Senegal, a country of 13 million people, had a single (60)Co teletherapy unit before our involvement and no brachytherapy capabilities. Radiating Hope, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide radiation therapy equipment to countries in the developing world, provided a high-dose-rate afterloading unit to the cancer center for curative cervical cancer treatment. Here we describe the implementation of high-dose-rate brachytherapy in Senegal requiring a nonstandard fractionation schedule and a novel treatment planning approach as a possible blueprint to providing this technology to other developing countries.
西非是世界上宫颈癌发病率最高的地区之一。绝大多数妇女无法进行筛查或疾病治疗，导致病情发展到晚期，死亡率很高。塞内加尔和非洲大陆的许多其他地区缺乏放射治疗设施，使这一问题更加复杂。塞内加尔是一个拥有 1300 万人口的国家，在我们介入之前，仅有一个（60）Co 远距离治疗机，没有近距离放疗的能力。Radiating Hope 是一个非营利组织，其使命是向发展中国家提供放射治疗设备，该组织为癌症中心提供了高剂量率后装设备，用于治疗宫颈癌。在这里，我们描述了在塞内加尔实施高剂量率近距离放疗的情况，需要采用非标准的分割方案和新的治疗计划方法，这可能是向其他发展中国家提供这项技术的蓝图。
