By Eric ASAMOAH, reporting in the Daily Searchlight
The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has conducted a breakthrough surgery, the first of its kind in Ghana and the rest of Africa excepting South Africa, using nuclear medicine to treat advanced cancer in a patient with prostate.
The Head of Nuclear Medicine at the Department of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Professor Alfred Ankrah, in an interview, disclosed that for the first time, Ghana has successfully implemented a new type of cancer treatment for advanced prostate cancer called Lutetium -177 prostrate-specific Membrane antigen (PSMA).
Prof. Ankrah made this announcement when the World Association of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Therapists held their 18th international conference on Radiopharmaceutical Therapy in Accra.
He added that Korle Bu Teaching Hospital is the only hospital in Ghana that has a functioning nuclear medicine department even though Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has a Nuclear Medicine Technologist but the department does not have the needed equipment to make the department operational.
He said, “Nuclear Medicine is not one man’s work but a team work involving a Nuclear Technologist and a Radiopharmaceutical Medical Physicist. Training a doctor and getting a camera for the department is not enough but training all members of the team that will operate at the department will make their work successful.”
He indicated that Nuclear Medicine Department at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has been engaging the Ghana College of Physician and are working on a draft that the two institutions can adopt to train more nuclear medicine technologists in Ghana and are also engaging the Ministry of Health on how Nuclear Medicine therapy can be incorporated into our health care delivery.
The President of the World Association of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Therapy, Professor Mike Sathekge said Nuclear Medicine treatment is precision medicine and before a cancer patient is treated with this therapy they image the patient, precisely remove the cancerous material without affecting nearby healthy issues, and apply the therapy that will destroy the cancer cells and spread the normal tissues, reduce toxicity and improve patient’s life. This is a breakthrough in the treatment of cancer, which previously used chemotherapy, which has a far higher propensity to destroy good cells as well as cancerous cells.
He stated that there is no need for the Ghanaian government to send doctors outside to learn nuclear medicine since there are trained nuclear medicine technologists in Ghana and called on the government to collaborate with the trained nuclear medicine technologists to help train more to help treat patients with cancer in Ghana and other Africa counties.
He encouraged all African counties to join the World Association of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Therapy to get the needed tools and training to help democratize therapy on the African continent.
Dr. Masha Maharaj, the Director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Umhlanga Molecular Imaging and Therapy Institute of South Africa said the conference was held in Ghana after the engagement with Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Nuclear Medicine Department to treat a patient with cancer and was successful.
She said until now South Africa is the only country in Africa that has this type of advanced treatment for cancer and said that it is not fair keeping this knowledge even though doctors mostly come to South Africa for training and said it is time to train more nuclear medicine technologists for the betterment of doctors and patients.
The conference saw the attendance of Nuclear medicine technologists from all over the world who came together to share knowledge on nuclear medicine therapy treatment which doctors are using to treat patients with cancer.
