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Cancer patients run around the city looking for places to get PET/CT scans

Out of medicine, the machine freezes

On the afternoon of May 19, patient TTN (who had changed his name, had esophageal cancer) took the paper and ordered a PET/CT scan to go back to see Doctor Nguyen Trieu Vu, head of the Oncology Department, City Hospital. Thu Duc, with a shake of his head.

He went to all the hospitals with PET/CT scanners in Ho Chi Minh City but was not accepted.

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Patients have to wait 1 month for PET/CT scan at Cho Ray Hospital.

Doctor Vu said, this patient has some lymph nodes around the esophageal and mediastinal tumor. He ordered PET/CT to determine whether this was a lymph node metastasis or an inflammatory lymph node. If there is no metastasis, the patient can be operated on. But if the PET/CT results show that the lymph nodes are hyperactive in the direction of lymph node metastasis, then the patient must be switched to chemotherapy or a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

“PET/CT is a modern technique, essential in cancer cases where CT or MRI is difficult to suspect. But now, cancer patients are having to run “around” around Ho Chi Minh City without being able to take pictures. This is a disadvantage and has a great impact on patients,” shared Dr. Vu.

On the afternoon of May 19, according to a source from Military Hospital 175, the PET/CT machine system of this hospital’s Oncology Center is stopping accepting new registrations for scans. “Lack of contrast material, lack of radioactive drugs, so the machine can’t work,” this person shared.

Recorded at Cho Ray Hospital on the same day, the staff of the area registered for PET/CT consultation, the patient had to wait until June 17 to take his turn. Currently the waiting list is full, patients can register their name, phone number, the hospital will call to notify when the date is near.

There is no cost to register for a reservation. However, the wait is too much for cancer patients.

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Department of Nuclear Medicine, Cho Ray Hospital.

This staff member explained, patients from People’s Hospital 115, Military Medicine 175, Oncology gathered, so there was a sudden increase. Meanwhile, Cho Ray Hospital can only handle about 10 patients/day. More ominously, from May 20, this hospital also temporarily stopped taking PET/CT scans due to machine maintenance for about a week.

This means that, temporarily, there are no public hospitals in HCMC for PET/CT scans. Cancer patients most likely have to plan to go to Da Nang or Hanoi to perform this technique.

Wait until when?

Sharing with VietNamNet, Mr. ST said that on the morning of May 19, he had just brought his mother to have a PET/CT scan at Cho Ray Hospital. Then, bring the results to the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital for the doctor to evaluate and come up with a treatment plan. Before that, his mother suspected lung K.

“Many people have signed up since March but this morning was taken with my mother. Some people are willing to spend 100 million to do it right away, but the hospital refuses. I think, they also don’t want the machine to be this late, but the patient doesn’t know what to expect,” said Mr. T.

According to Dr. Nguyen Trieu Vu, PET/CT is not applicable to all cancer patients. But this technique helps to detect metastatic lesions, assess the response level, the risk of cancer recurrence and is especially effective when evaluating difficult cases.

“I do not “divine” PET/CT technique, but the current situation is a great disadvantage for patients. The number of cancers in Ho Chi Minh City and the South is very large while very few hospitals perform this technique, “doctor Vu worries.

In Ho Chi Minh City, there are 4 hospitals that have been equipped with PET/CT scanners. Including: Cho Ray Hospital, People’s Hospital 115, Military Hospital 175, Ho Chi Minh City Cancer Hospital.

In particular, Cho Ray Hospital is the only place that prepares 18F-FDG radioactive drugs for PET/CT scans. Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, in addition to the machine system at facility 1 (Binh Thanh district), will soon equip facility 2 (Thu Duc city). However, at this time, patients of Oncology Hospital also had to transfer to Cho Ray Hospital for PET/CT scan.

Linh Giao

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