SEPTEMBER is Gynaecology Awareness Month, and Grampians Health radiation oncologist Dr Thanuja Thachil is marking a timely Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre milestone.<\/p>\n
Gynaecological radiotherapy has been provided locally at BRICC since 2019, and a 50th patient is\u00a0<\/span>set to receive\u00a0<\/span>the treatment this month.<\/span><\/p>\n Dr Thachil said she believes accessing the therapy close to home is the right of all patients.<\/p>\n \u201cExternal beam radiation treatment can mean appointments every day for five to six weeks, which would mean a lot of travel or relocation to Melbourne,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIn some cases, it can even mean patients being unable to complete their treatment course, or not having treatment at all.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Thachil said the centre\u2019s radiation oncology staff have colleagues in Melbourne at Austin Health, who they collaborate with.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Dr Thachil said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u00a0set to receive\u00a0the treatment this month. Dr Thachil said she believes accessing the therapy close to home is […]<\/p>\n