Prevalence study of tumor radiotherapy in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Abstract

Objective To investigate the development status of tumor radiotherapy in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Methods A questionnaire survey we used last time was conducted by letter, Email, telephone or fax to investigate all the medical institutions in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for researching the current status of radiotherapy academic settings, human resources, allocation of radiotherapy facilities and standardization of medical practices. Results Up to the end of January 2015, there were 30 medical electron linear accelerators, 21 simulated locators, 10 breach-loading brachytherapy machines, 31 treatment planning systems and 5 γ or X knives in Xinjiang. Radiotherapy was carried out in 20 medical institutions, including 14 three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy and 9 intensity modulated radiation therapy, 8 breach-loading brachytherapy, 3 stereotactic radiotherapy, and 2 volumetric modulated arc therapy. There were 280 radiation personnel (except nurses), including 159 radiation oncologists, 40 radiotherapy physicists and 81 radiotherapy technologists. There were 1167 hospital beds and 855 cancer patients received radiotherapy on average every day. Conclusions Although radiation personnel has increased, radiotherapy facilities have been improved, hospital beds and patients received radiotherapy also have become more, the improvements are needed for cause of imbalance in precise radiation therapy development. Key words: Neoplasms/RT; Data collection