New Delhi, February 19 A 41-year-old Iraqi man who was diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening eye cancer has been treated with plaque brachytherapy at a Delhi hospital using a domestically developed radiation device, an official statement said on Thursday.
The procedure was carried out at the Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, where the patient was suffering from choroidal melanoma, it said.
"This cancer develops in the pigmented layer inside the eye. He had been experiencing a gradual loss of vision in his right eye for nearly six months before tests revealed a tumor measuring about 9.5 x 13.5 mm," it added.
Doctors said the cancer was detected at a stage when it was confined to the eye. After evaluation by a multidisciplinary team, plaque brachytherapy was advised, a procedure in which a small radioactive device is temporarily placed on the outer wall of the eye over the tumor to deliver focused radiation.
The hospital added that a domestically developed Ruthenium-106 plaque manufactured by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre was used for the treatment. The patient was admitted during the procedure and the device was removed after the prescribed radiation dose was delivered, it said.
The procedure was performed by the ophthalmology team led by Dr Anita Sethi, principal director and head of ophthalmology. Early diagnosis helped doctors treat the tumor while preserving the eye, the hospital quoted her as saying.
The hospital added that the treatment allows radiation to be directed at the tumor while limiting exposure to surrounding healthy tissues. It said it is among the few centres in the country offering this therapy.