100 years of Department of Radiation Oncology celebrated at Rajiv Gandhi GH
The first 200kV X-ray unit for treating cancer was set up in 1924, which was the first unit of its kind to be installed by Captain T W Barnard, who was posted as the radiographer in the hospital then.
DTNEXT Bureau
CHENNAI: The Radiotherapy Treatment Department of Radiation Oncology is celebrating 100 years at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. The hospital is the first institution in Asia and second in the world to introduce X-ray for cancer treatment.
The first 200kV X-ray unit for treating cancer was set up in 1924, which was the first unit of its kind to be installed by Captain T W Barnard, who was posted as the radiographer in the hospital then.
The treatments at the department include external beam radiation treatment such as basic convergent beam therapy, pendulum therapy, Telecobalt therapy and the latest high energy state of the art LINAC. The brachytherapy was started for patients from 1930 starting with radium needles to present after loading HDR brachytherapy unit installed in 2015.
Since 1924, the Department of Radiation Oncology at Barnard Institute of Radiology and Oncology has treated around 10 lakh patients in Telecobalt, 93,386 patients in Linear Accelerator and 1,651 patients in Brachytherapy. Hospital authorities say that the department also trains post-graduates and radiotherapy technologists in Radiation Oncology. The institute provides cancer care for patients from across the country.
