Douala, Cameroon, July 1st, 2019:

Cameroon Oncology Center delivered image guided radiation therapy to an 8-year-old child with medulloblastoma using her state-of-the-art medical linear accelerator.
The effort was led by Professor Paul Mobit, CEO of Cameroon Oncology Center from the United States supported by Professor Weisi Yan, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Professor Waleed Morad, University of Kentucky Medical Center both in the United States.

The team from Cameroon was led by oncologists and supported by Mr. Imandi Paulin, Medical Physicist, Mr. Peguey Lekeumo Tatinou, Chief of Radiation Therapy and Roully T. Tembeng Chief Engineer.

Medulloblastomas are invasive, rapidly growing tumors that originate in the central nervous system (CNS) which consists of the brain and spinal cord. The patient was diagnosed with high risk medulloblastoma. She had surgery and needs the entire CNS to be treated while at the same time minimizing radiation dose to all the organs of the body. This type of treatment is so complicated in a way that it is only available in the United States of America at major cancer centers and university teaching level cancer facilities. The fact that Cameroon Oncology Center was able to accomplish this within 2 months of the start of operations is testimony to the quality of equipment, training of her staff and the tele-radiation oncology service protocols that she has employed.

The little girl was CT scanned in Douala and the CT scanned data was transferred to our computerized treatment planning system. The brain and spinal cord were outlined/contoured as well as the surrounding organs at risks. A computerized treatment plan was then developed for the patient using 3D conformal radiation therapy technique that maximizes radiation dose to the tumor while at the same time minimizing radiation dose to surrounding normal tissue. The optimized plans were then transferred to a computerized Record and Verify System for treatment delivery on our medical linear accelerator in Douala. 

The treatment plan developed meets all United States of American Protocol standard for this type of treatment. Radiation imaging of the patient before treatment (image guided therapy) ensures that the patient is treated as planned, a critical component of modern radiation therapy treatment. The patient will receive this treatment 29 more times with weekly administration of chemotherapy. The cost of treatment in South Africa, India, Europe and United States will have been over 12 million FCFA excluding hotel and air planes yet the total cost of this treatment at Cameroon Oncology Center is well below 3 million F CFA.  

Cameroon Oncology Center would like to thank all her partners that participated in the care of this little girl (Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, Cameroon Cancer Foundation) and the British based Beryl Thyer Memorial Africa Trust that provided 25% of the cost of radiation therapy.

For more information, contact Mr. Victor Samkoh, Vice President, Marketing and Operations,
 Tel +237 677 550 109, Email : Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser., Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser. Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.