Treatment milestone for cancer centre

SEPTEMBER is Gynaecology Awareness Month, and Grampians Health radiation oncologist Dr Thanuja Thachil is marking a timely Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre milestone.

Gynaecological radiotherapy has been provided locally at BRICC since 2019, and a 50th patient is set to receive the treatment this month.

Dr Thachil said she believes accessing the therapy close to home is the right of all patients.

“External beam radiation treatment can mean appointments every day for five to six weeks, which would mean a lot of travel or relocation to Melbourne,” she said.

“It’s a huge advantage to patients to be able to deliver that treatment locally. Most of these patients have such complex psycho-social situations, and hence the worst thing you can do is to dislocate them from their family and their existing support systems at the challenging time of treatment.

“In some cases, it can even mean patients being unable to complete their treatment course, or not having treatment at all.

“Through BRICC, external beam radiation can be offered at Grampians Health. However, some patients may still have to travel to Melbourne for a component of the treatment using brachytherapy.”

Dr Thachil said the centre’s radiation oncology staff have colleagues in Melbourne at Austin Health, who they collaborate with.

“I am privileged to be working with such a dedicated regional team, and to have linkages to specialist metropolitan units in order to fulfill this task of providing high-quality radiation oncology services to patients with gynaecological cancer in the Grampians region,” Dr Thachil said.