Ray of hope as cancer detecting machine machines arrive Imo.
3 min read
If the fillers Umuaka Times gathered last week from American Cancer Hospital in Imo State Nigeria is anything to go by, hope seems to have arrived for cancer patients across the country especially in Imo State and the entire Southeast. Umuaka Times gathered that American Cancer Hospital which operates from Ikeduru Imo State has acquired some cancer dictating machines which have the capacity to dictate cancer of any form in its earliest stage. Dr Austin Agbahiwe, PhD, Managing Director, American Cancer Hospital disclosed this to Umuaka Times last week in a brief interview.
From what Dr Agbahiwe told Umuaka Times, the machines which conduct radiotherapy can successfully and efficiently carry out medical investigations on CT, MRI, C-ARM, x-rays, mammogram and ultrasound. Dr Agbahiwe further confirmed that cancer ailments are in four stages but “there are 3 multidisciplinary approach (surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy) that are deployed in the treatment of cancer in any part of the body…” He concluded by saying that the stage of any cancer seriously determines the type of treatment that will be administered to the cancer patient.
The doctor who described cancer ailment as a serious emergency, lamented seriously on the aggressive nature cancer has deployed to ravaging people across the country at present and further advised every Nigerian to note 4 basic points about cancer and its treatment.
In a message sent to Umuaka Times by Dr Agbahiwe via one of the digital platforms on the internet, he explained how the dictating machines work. “At high doses, radiation therapy kills cancer cells or slows their growth by damaging their DNA. Cancer cells whose DNA is damaged beyond repair, stop dividing or die.”
When Umuaka Times asked him to make a brief speech about himself and the American Cancer Hospital, Dr Agbahiwe said, ” I am the Managing Director of American Cancer Hospital, Nigeria, overseeing the day-to-day running of the hospital in the country. The hospital is owned by some American investors. My mandate is to establish at least 3 hospitals specializing in the diagnosis, treatment and management of all cancer cases in Nigeria. Currently, we have started off treatment at the hospital in Imo State, with modern cancer treatment and diagnostic equipment, prominent among which is the radiotherapy machine, an equipment which emits gamma rays for cancer treatment. It is the first of its kind in the whole of South South/South East. Our major modern diagnostic equipment include Mammogram, MRI, CT, CT-Stimulator, etc.”
Asked to explain what mammogram does to the body, Dr Agbahiwe again explained thus; “A mammogram is an X-ray picture of the breast. At American Cancer Hospital, we use a mammogram to look for early signs of breast cancer. Regular mammograms are the best tests doctors have to find breast cancer early, sometimes up to three years before it can be felt.”
Indeed these machines are the latest in medical technology, Dr Agbahiwe drew a final note on the monster of cancer.
“Cancer is abnormal mass of tissue whose growth exceeds the normal growth. The growth continues even after the stimulus that caused that strange growth. Cancer cells do not respect the control of the brain. The feedback system of the brain stipulates maximum growth for any part of the body. The brain sends inhibitors to stop further growth. But in the case of cancer, it is an abnormal growth which does not obey the control of the brain. Even if the brain sends signals, it will never stop growing. There are different types of cancer. Once a case has been established clinically, it would be taken to histopathology laboratory for analysis which will specify the type, grade and stage of the cancer. Grade has to do with how it appears, and stage means the extent it has grown to or which organ of the body it has affected. It is the only way you can confirm cancer. Other clinical examinations may point to it, but histology will give accurate picture of what it is. That is how we are guided on the approach to the treatment.”
