Dr Adrian Indar says many of the mistakes made with the overexposure of radiation to patients at the Brian Lara Cancer Treatment Centre could have been avoided. "Many of these mistakes could have been caught had basic checking protocols been followed," Indar, director of the Southern Medical Oncology Centre, San Fernando, said yesterday. He said radiation was still safe for treating cancer patients. "The overlying philosophy is that radiotherapy is used all over the world to treat cancer patients and, when like everything else, it is done appropriately and safely, it is very good," he said.
Following the revelation that some 223 patients may have been overexposed to radiation at the Port-of-Spain centre, Indar wrote letters to all of his patients reassuring them of the highest quality assurance possible to ensure safe treatment. "While no process is ever 100 per cent perfect, we regularly undertake the several measures to ensure that every treatment is delivered exactly as it should," he said. On Wednesday, Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan confirmed that the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) investigated and found a miscalibration of a linear accelerator over a period of approximately 12 months, ranging from approximately four per cent to 20 per cent of over-radiation.
Khan said PAHO was brought in to investigate, after a complaint in June 2010 from a certified medical physicist about possible miscalibration of a linear accelerator at the centre. Indar said depending on what part of the body the excess radiation was given and the quantity, the effects could be experienced early while some effects could be late. It could result in anything from scarring, to a breakdown of tissue, strictures or narrowing. "The effects could come in any shape of form," Indar said. He said there would have to be a period of monitoring to rule out or determine whether certain manifestation are linked to overexposure.