DutchNews.nl,
Friday 20 June 2014
(NOS/ANP) |
The
hospital is building three specialised operating theatres for the new approach,
which involve patients finding out on the day of their operation if all
cancerous cells have been removed.
At the
moment, it takes some two weeks after an operation to find out if a patient has
the all-clear.
Follow up
This new
approach will not only cut waiting times for patients but will reduce the
number of people needing follow-up treatment, professor Hein Gooszen told newspaper Trouw.
At the
moment some 20% to 30% of patients need radiation or chemotherapy, Gooszen
said. 'By carrying out extra research immediately, we hope to reduce this to
almost zero,' the professor told the paper.
The
hospital will do this by using a micro-MRI scanner which allows pathologists to
differentiate between good and bad cells.
Siemens
The
equipment is extremely expensive but manufacturer Siemens is contributing to
the cost of the project, the paper says.
The project
will initially concentrate on prostate cancer, gynaecological cancers and
cancers of the head and neck. If the new approach is successful, it will be
expanded to cover breast and other cancers.
To ensure
the new approach is working, cells will also be tested in a traditional
laboratory after the operation.
'We want to
be able to say after five years if this works,' Gooszen said. He believes the
Nijmegen hospital is the first in the world to offer the one-day approach.
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