ALMERIA SETS STANDARD FOR TREATMENT OF CANCER

Almeria is setting the standards in Spain with the treatment of cancer where in Torrecárdenas hospital 3000 new cases are treated every year.

The Chief of Radiation Oncology, Adolfo Vergez, says that 80% of patients need chemotherapy and between 50% and 60% need radiotherapy. As for the most common cancers, breast and lung cancer are more common in women while in men it is prostate and lung cancer that seem to prevail. Putting the figures together for both sexes, however, the most common cancer is of the colon. These types of cancer account for 70% of all cases.

As therapies improve Vergez goes on to say that the success rates for treatment in the Province currently stands at 60%. “These are individuals who are fully cured and who need no further treatment.”

The three services involved in the Hospital Management Unit are Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology and Medical Radiation. In Torrecárdenas there are seven medical oncologists, four radiation oncologists and four radiation physicists.
“All of our professionals are highly trained and at all times we are able to apply International Standards of treatment. We are fully up to date on everything,” says Vergez.

“There are some techniques that are only available in Madrid or Barcelona and where appropriate we are able to refer our patients to those cities but here in Almeria the treatment we can provide is second to none. Our unit is providing outpatient care for 12 hours a day and we are treating a daily average of 100 people with chemotherapy. I truly believe that today 95% of patients can be very well looked after here in the province. But regardless of our skills we do not work alone. Our specialists coordinate with other medical areas from which we all continue to learn.”