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Overexposure of radiation therapy patients in Panama: problem recognition and follow-up measures

dc.contributor.authorBorrás, Caries_ES
dc.date.accessioned2015
dc.date.available2015
dc.date.issued2006es_ES
dc.identifier.citationBorrás, Cari (2006) Overexposure of radiation therapy patients in Panama: problem recognition and follow-up measures. Rev Panam Salud Publica;20(2/3) 173-187,aug.-sept. 2006. Retrieved from http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49892006000800014&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=enen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49892006000800014&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=enes_ES
dc.identifier.urihttps://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/7929
dc.format.extentiluses_ES
dc.format.extenttabes_ES
dc.relation.ispartofseriesRev Panam Salud Publica;20(2/3),ago.-sept. 2006es_ES
dc.subjectLesões por Radiaçãopt_BR
dc.subjectRadioterapiaes_ES
dc.subjectPanamáes_ES
dc.subjectNeoplasias Pélvicases_ES
dc.subjectLesões por Radiaçãopt_BR
dc.subjectRadioterapia (Especialidade)es_ES
dc.subjectDosagem Radioterapêuticaes_ES
dc.titleOverexposure of radiation therapy patients in Panama: problem recognition and follow-up measuresen_US
dc.typeJournal articlesen_US
dc.rights.holderPan American Health Organizationen_US
dc.description.notesThis report summarizes and analyzes the responses of various organizations that provided assistance to the National Oncology Institute (Instituto Oncológico Nacional, ION) of Panama following the overexposure of 28 radiation therapy patients at the ION in late 2000 and early 2001. The report also looks at the long-term measures that were adopted at the ION in response to the overexposure incident, as well as implications that the incident has for other cancer treatment centers worldwide. In March 2001, the director of the ION was notified of serious overreactions in patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer treatment. Of the 478 patients treated for pelvic cancers between August 2000 and March 2001, 3 of them had died, possibly from an overdose of radiation. In response, the Government of Panama invited international experts to carry out a full investigation of the situation. Medical physicists from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) were among those invited. They ascertained that 56 patients treated with partially blocked teletherapy fields for cancers of the uterine cervix, endometrium, prostate, or rectum, had had their treatment times calculated using a computerized treatment planning system. PAHO's medical physicists calculated the absorbed doses received by the patients and found that, of these 56 patients, only 11 had been treated with acceptable errors of ±5 percent. The doses received by 28 of the 56 patients had errors ranging from +10 to +105 percent. These are the patients identified by ION physicists as overexposed. Twenty-three of the 28 overexposed patients had died by September 2005, with at least 18 of the deaths being from radiation effects, mostly rectal complications. The clinical, psychological, and legal consequences of the overexposures crippled cancer treatments in Panama and prompted PAHO to assess radiation oncology practices in the countries of Latin American and the Caribbean. ION clinicians...(AU)en_US
dc.description.notesEste informe resume y analiza la respuesta de varias organizaciones que brindaron asistencia al Instituto Oncológico Nacional (ION) de Panamá después de la sobreexposición de 28 pacientes sometidos a radioterapia que ocurrió en el ION a finales de 2000 y principios de 2001. Además, se examinan las medidas de largo plazo adoptadas en el ION en respuesta al accidente de sobreexposición y las implicaciones que tiene este accidente para todos los centros de tratamiento oncológico en el mundo. En marzo de 2001 se le comunicaron al director del ION las reacciones adversas graves sufridas por algunos pacientes sometidos a radioterapia contra el cáncer. De los 478 pacientes tratados entre agosto de 2000 y marzo de 2001 por cánceres localizados en la región pélvica, tres habían fallecido, presumiblemente por sobredosis de radiación. A raíz de ello, el Gobierno de Panamá invitó a expertos internacionales a realizar una investigación a fondo de la situación. Entre los especialistas invitados se encontraban físicos médicos de la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS), quienes comprobaron que 56 pacientes con cáncer cérvico-uterino, de endometrio, de próstata o de recto tratados mediante campos de teleterapia parcialmente bloqueados recibieron dosis calculadas mediante un sistema computarizado de planificación de tratamientos. Los físicos médicos de la OPS comprobaron que solo 11 de esos 56 pacientes recibieron una dosis absorbida dentro de los límites aceptables de ±5 por ciento. Veintiocho de los 56 pacientes recibieron dosis con errores entre +10 y +105 por ciento. De esos 28 pacientes que fueron sobreexpuestos, según los físicos del ION, 23 murieron antes de septiembre de 2005; de ellos, 18 murieron a causa de los efectos de las radiaciones, principalmente complicaciones rectales. Las consecuencias clínicas, psicológicas y jurídicas de esta sobreexposición menoscabaron gravemente los tratamientos contra el cáncer en Panamá y llevaron...(AU)es_ES


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