Our Stories

Taking Cancer Care to the Next Level

To provide patients with safer and better cancer care, Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong added brachytherapy, a type of internal radiotherapy, to its suite of services at its Radiotherapy and Oncology Centre on 10 June.

Targeted and highly precise, the new procedure enhances the hospital’s capability to treat different cancers and provide better clinical outcomes for patients. Already, the treatment is seeing good results in its first patient who is recovering from sarcoma cancer.

Brachytherapy is a special form of radiotherapy where a sealed radioactive source is placed inside a patient’s body to treat a small targeted area within a shorter time as compared to traditional radiation delivered from outside the body. This highly-localised treatment has proven to be very effective in treating cancer with lower risk of side effects, as less radiation is delivered to surrounding healthy tissues.

The Centre’s first patient, a male in his mid-30s, was diagnosed with sarcoma cancer on his left thigh. The tumour was very extensive, measuring over 30cm. Upon removal of the tumour, perioperative brachytherapy was done through radiation directed to the high-risk region where the tumour was located before surgery. This complements the external beam radiotherapy that is given after all wounds are healed, typically four to six weeks after the surgery. The patient is now making good process in his treatment and we wish him all the best in his recovery journey!