Every year, more than 16,000 people in Kazakhstan die from cancer, half of them being of working age. The figure continues to grow as most cases receive a diagnosis in the late stages.
A new initiative by physicians and nuclear physicists hopes to make cancer detection at early stages more accessible and affordable for everyone through the use of radiopharmaceuticals, which refer to drugs that contain radioactive substances used to treat diseases, including cancer.
The Presidential Hospital is opening the first center for nuclear medicine in the country that will run both diagnostics and the production of radiopharmaceuticals within the complex.
Aigul Saduakasova, head of the Center of Nuclear Medicine, said in an interview with the Kazinform that the opening of the complex is a real breakthrough in Kazakh medicine and science. She added that doctors will be able to admit twice as many patients and diagnose almost all types of diagnoses.
"To date, more than 70 thousand people in Kazakhstan are in need of nuclear medicine diagnostics. However, there is a deficiency of necessary radiopharmaceuticals in the country. As of today, only one pharmaceutical product is synthesized at three centers in Nur-Sultan, Semey and Almaty. The pharmaceutical is, although versatile, unable to recognize many types of tumor, which produces challenges for many oncologists in setting the right treatment for their patients. In 2015, the clinic faced a six-month interruption of work in the facility due to the frequent breakdown of equipment, lack of consumables for the synthesis of radiopharmaceutical drugs. This resulted in a long waiting list of patients.
The hospital specialists decided to expand the production of 9 radiopharmaceutical drugs which is about to be set by 2025. There are only a few such centers around the world, where production is launched at the same place where diagnostics are carried out.
According to Saduakassova, the production and diagnostic cannot be divided due to the ultrashort life span of the radiopharmaceutical drugs. With the opening of the cyclotron, Kazakhstani doctors will be able to diagnose and treat not only cancer patients but also those in the area of cardiology, neurology, neurosurgery, etc. The new radiopharmaceuticals will be useful to diagnose epilepsy and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.