Cancer Institute

Cancer Centre

Cancer prevalence in India is estimated to be around 2.5 million, with over 8, 00,000 new cases and 5,50,000 deaths occurring each year due to cancer. The Oncology Centre of Excellence at Apollo Ahmedabad is the comprehensive cancer centre for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, education and research in Cancer and is known as one of the leading cancer centre in Gujarat. The comprehensive treatment system involves an Onco Expert Team which consists of a group of proficient medical, surgical and radiation oncologists.

The Oncology Centre of Excellence provides the treatment in the following major specialties:

• Medical Oncology
• Surgical Oncology
• Radiation Oncology
• Hematology & Bone Marrow Transplant

Medical Oncology:

Medical Oncology is a discipline which deals with the systemic therapy of cancer including chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapies, supportive care and stem cell/bone marrow transplantation.

Chemotherapy:

Chemotherapy is a method of cancer treatment in which anti-cancer drugs are given intravenously, by injections, or by mouth. Chemotherapy is often used in conjunction with radiation therapy and surgery, as a multimodality therapy. Anti-cancer drugs are special drugs which can only be prescribed by a person who has been trained in this specialty. In the last two to three decades chemotherapy has made great impact in the overall survival of many cancers.

Our Medical Oncologists at Apollo  Cancer Centre are highly experienced and few of the senior-most doctors in Gujarat who are determined to provide efficient treatment to the Cancer Patients. Medical Oncology unit at Apollo Cancer Centre has a well equipped Day Care Center for Chemotherapies with extremely efficient Nursing Staff. Our center also houses Gujarat’s first private sector admixture unit which ensures zero contamination of Chemotherapy drugs for our cancer patients.

What we do:

Our thrust is to use the latest protocols of treatment at a reasonable cost.

Our specialized work includes:
1. All Solid tumors like breast, gynecologic malignancies, colorectal, lung, prostate, head & neck cancers, brain tumors, neuroendocrine tumors, renal tumors etc.

2. Use of Targeted Therapies and Monoclonal Antibodies in various cancers.

3. We offer multidisciplinary opinion of surgeons or radiation oncologists to give better care to patients.
& follow recommended protocols to maintain uniformity of treatment.

4. Implanting long term catheters (Ports) for safe and painless chemotherapy. We have the largest series of Port implantations in Gujarat.

5. Our staff nurses are well trained and dedicated in administering chemotherapy. They regularly undergo training for better care.

We believe in quality care and at a reasonable cost! For us the adage ‘patient first’ has great bearing!

Type of Stem Cell Transplants:

Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplant

Stem Cell/Bone Marrow transplant is a procedure used to treat Blood Cancers and other hematological conditions. In a Stem Cell/Bonemarrow Transplant, the patient’s diseased blood producing (Hematopoetic) Stem Cells are replaced by Fresh Stem Cells either from the patient’s own body (Autologous Transplant) or from a Donor’s Stem Cells (Allogeneic Transplant).

Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplant unit at Apollo Cancer Centre is the first private sector Stem Cell Transplant Unit of Gujarat state. Our Transplant centre specializes in all types of Bone marrow Transplants including Autologous transplant and Allogenic Transplant which include matched sbiling donor, matched unrelated donor and Haploidentical Donor Transplant. We recently completed more than 300 transplants at our Stem Cell Transplant unit and the success ratio of the transplants performed at our center are at par with any Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplant Center in USA or Europe.

The Stem Cell Transplant ICU performs various Stem Cell Transplant treatments such as:

• Autologous Transplant
• Allogeneic Transplant
• Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant
• Haploidentical Transplant

Diseases/Disorders Treated:

• Myeloma
• Leukemia / Acute Leukemia
• Thalassemia
• Aplastic Anemia
• Inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome
• Sickle Cell Disease
• Metabolic and Immunodeficiency Disorders
• Refractory Autoimmune Disease( SLE, Sclerodrema, Multiple Sclerosis)
• Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS)
• Myelofibrosis

Consultant – hemato-oncology & Bone Marrow Transplant

Autologus Transplant (Stem Cells collected from one’s own body):

Apollo Cancer Centre,  Ahmedabad offers Autologus transplant for following diseases:

• Hodgkin’s & Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Myeloma
• Leukemia
• Neuroblastoma

Allogeneic Transplant (Stem Cells collected from some one else’s body):

Apollo Cancer Centre,  Ahmedabad offers Allogeneic transplant for following diseases:

• Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation For Thalassemia Major
• Several other genetic disorders, especially with single gene defects
• Aplastic Anemia
• Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
• High Risk AML & Relapsed AML
• Relapsed ALL (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia) As last resort in several advanced or refractory haematological malignancies eg. follicular lymphoma, CLL etc

Achievements:

The center has performed over 300 transplant, which is highest in the private sector with excellent clinical result comparable to international standard and specializes in Haplo (half match) bone marrow transplant which are regarded as the most complex transplants.

 

• Highest number of BMT in private Set-up in Gujarat
• First clinical Hematology and BMT Superspeciality training program in Gujarat (DNB)
• 12 Dedicated state of the art HEPA filtered rooms for BMT
• In-house Stem-Cell Harvesting and Cryopreservation

Consultant – Medical Oncology

• Dr. Chirag Shah
• Dr. Akash Shah
• Dr. Rushit Shah

Surgical Oncology:

Complex tumor removals are skillfully performed by Apollo’s highly trained and motivated surgical oncologists. Department is supported by surgeons specializing region wise i.e. separate surgeons for cancers of head & neck region, gastrointestinal or abdominal cancers, breast cancer, gynecological cancers, genitourinary cancers, Thoracic, etc. with good support from reconstructive plastic surgery and other allied specialties. Operation theaters and other facilities are of international standards. Most surgeons are either trained abroad or in premier institutes of India.

Our Surgical Oncology Expert Team:

Consultant – Surgical Oncology

• Dr. M I Laxmidhar (Head & Neck Oncology)
• Dr. V R N Vijaykumar (Head & Neck Oncology)
• Dr. Rohan Singh (Oral Surgeon)
• Dr. Swati Shah(Rpbotic Uro Onco Gyney Onco)
• Dr. Shubha Sinha (Brest Surgeon)
• Dr. Chirag Desai (GI Onco)
• Dr. Lakhsman Khiria (GI Onco)
• Dr. Usha Bohra (Gyney Onco)
• Dr. Aniket Dave (Onco Reconstruction Surgery)
• Dr. Pratyusha Priyardarshi (Onco Reconstruction Surgery)

Radiation Oncology:

The Apollo Oncology Centre of Excellence is equipped with following which add to the accuracy and precision and help in optimizing effectiveness of radiation therapy.

Rapid Arc: Rapid Arc radiotherapy technology is a new approach to image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IGRT/IMRT) that delivers precise treatments in shorter times than conventional IMRT. Rapid Arc delivers a highly precise treatment much faster than other technologies.

Brachytherapy: It is commonly used as an effective treatment for cervical, prostate, breast, and skin cancer and can also be used to treat tumors in many other body sites

IGRT (Image Guided Radiation Therapy): IGRT is used by highly trained radiation oncologists, which involves process of frequent two and three-dimensional imaging, during a course of radiation treatment, used to direct radiation therapy utilizing the imaging coordinates.

IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy): IMRT is an advanced type of high-precision radiation that improves the ability to conform the treatment volume to concave tumor shapes.

Radiation Oncology Expert Team:

• Dr Chirag Amin
• Dr J P Neema
• Dr Vivek Bansal
• Dr Samrendra Das