A 69-year-old woman in Karachi has emerged to be the longest cancer survivor of the country as she was treated for ‘head and neck’ cancer with the help of radiation therapy in 1969 at the oncology ward of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and remained cancer-free for over 53 years, officials said on Friday.
“Currently, we are treating a 69-year-old woman for cancer with the help of tomotherapy, a top-of-the-line radiation therapy machine. She was 17 in 1969 when she had nasopharyngeal carcinoma [tumour behind nasal cavity] and received radiation therapy at JPMC under the supervision of Prof Manzoor Hasan Zaidi”, Dr Fatima Shaukat, radiation oncologist at the JPMC, told The News.
Following her successful radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer in 1969, Shakeela Sheikh was married in the years to come, had two children and lived a good-quality life for over 52 years, Dr Fatima said, adding that she had developed a second cancer in the salivary gland of the head and neck region this year.
The oncologist remarked that with the help of radiation therapy with primitive technology in 1960s, the cancer patient remained disease-free for over half a century, had an excellent life and raised her children, which showed that radiation therapy was an effective method for killing cancer cells, shrinking tumours and preventing the recurrence of cancer.
“This lady underwent surgery at a private hospital by an ENT Cancer Surgeon and is currently receiving highly conformal radiation from JPMC, the same institute where her first radiation was done in 1969, but now with more advanced machine which is called tomotherapy under care of Dr Fatima Shaukat,” said Prof Tariq Mahmood, head of the radiation oncology department at the JPMC.
Prof Mahmood said it was an honour for the JPMC’s radiation oncology department that one of their earliest patients lived for over 52 years after getting treatment with the help of comparatively low-quality radiation machines in 60s but now when she had developed another cancer, she came to the same institute for radiotherapy treatment with much better and cutting-edge radiation technology.
“We are the only centre in Pakistan with a tomotherapy machine which offers precise and accurate radiation that minimise damage to the surrounding healthy areas and reduce the side effects of the radiation therapy,” Prof Mahmood said.
He maintained that with two cyberknife and a tomotherapy machine, the lost glory of the JPMC was back and it was now offering the best radiation treatment in the world as it was one of the eight facilities in the world that had these three machines together.
“There are several myths regarding radiation therapy in Pakistan and many people are advised not to get radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer. Refusal to get radiation therapy can lead to spread and recurrence of cancer and result in a miserable death,” he said as he advised the cancer patients to follow the recommendations of oncologists for their treatment.
Source link: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1101561-longest-cancer-survivor-of-pakistan-back-to-jpmc-for-radiation-therapy-after-53-years