Radiation Oncology Research Center, Cancer Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Institute, IKHC, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
BMC Cancer. 2024 Mar 8;24(1):324. doi: 10.1186/s12885-024-12078-z.
Radiotherapy (RT) is an essential treatment modality against cancer and becoming even more in demand due to the anticipated increase in cancer incidence. Due to the rapid development of RT technologies amid financial challenges, we aimed to assess the available RT facilities and the issues with achieving health equity based on current equipment compared to the previous reports from Iran.
A survey arranged by the Iran Cancer Institute's Radiation Oncology Research Center (RORC) was sent to all of the country's radiotherapy centers in 2022. Four components were retrieved: the reimbursement type, equipment, human resources, and patient load. To calculate the radiotherapy utilization rate (RUR), the Lancet Commission was used. The findings were compared with the previous national data.
Seventy-six active radiotherapy centers with 123 Linear accelerators (LINACs) were identified. The centers have been directed in three ways. 10 (20 LINACs), 36 (50 LINACs), and 30 centers (53 LINACs) were charity-, private-, and public-based, respectively. Four provinces had no centers. There was no active intraoperative radiotherapy machine despite its availability in 4 centers. One orthovoltage X-ray machine was active and 14 brachytherapy devices were treating patients. There were 344, 252, and 419 active radiation oncologists, medical physicists, and radiation therapy technologists, respectively. The ratio of LINAC and radiation oncologists to one million populations was 1.68 and 4.10, respectively. Since 2017, 35±5 radiation oncology residents have been trained each year.
There has been a notable growth in RT facilities since the previous reports and Iran's situation is currently acceptable among LMICs. However, there is an urgent need to improve the distribution of the RT infrastructure and provide more facilities that can deliver advanced techniques.
放射治疗（RT）是治疗癌症的重要手段，随着癌症发病率的预期增加，其需求也越来越大。由于 RT 技术在财务挑战下的快速发展，我们旨在根据当前设备评估可用的 RT 设施，并与伊朗以前的报告相比，评估实现健康公平所面临的问题。
2022 年，伊朗癌症研究所放射肿瘤学研究中心（RORC）安排了一项调查，向全国所有放射治疗中心发送了该调查。共收集了四个方面的数据：报销类型、设备、人力资源和患者数量。为了计算放射治疗利用率（RUR），使用了 Lancet Commission 的方法。将调查结果与以前的国家数据进行了比较。
共确定了 76 个活跃的放射治疗中心，拥有 123 台线性加速器（LINAC）。这些中心分为三种类型：10 个（20 台 LINAC）、36 个（50 台 LINAC）和 30 个（53 台 LINAC），分别为慈善、私人和公立。有四个省没有中心。尽管有 4 个中心有术中放射治疗机，但没有使用。一台正交千伏 X 射线机在运行，14 台近距离放射治疗设备在治疗患者。有 344 名、252 名和 419 名活跃的放射肿瘤学家、医学物理学家和放射治疗技术员，分别。每百万人口的 LINAC 和放射肿瘤学家的比例分别为 1.68 和 4.10。自 2017 年以来，每年培训 35±5 名放射肿瘤学住院医师。
自上次报告以来，RT 设施有了显著增长，伊朗在 LMIC 中的情况目前是可以接受的。然而，迫切需要改善 RT 基础设施的分布，并提供更多能够提供先进技术的设施。
