“Total Body Irradiation”

From November 28 till December 2, a workshop with the participation of international experts on a child total body irradiation as part of conditioning before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is held at the "UMIT" International Oncological Center of Tomotherapy, Astana, 42/1 Abylai Khan ave. (access from Mailin St.) in order to apply this technique in future.

During the workshop, doctors had a chance to work with an example of an extraordinary application of this therapy type for the treatment of a small patient.

Aim: within the workshop, teach oncologists and hematologists the method of total body irradiation for children.

Participants of the event:

Shayakhmetov Yerzhan Mukhatayevich – Director of the "UMIT" International Oncological Center of Tomotherapy

Tsoy Boris Viktorovich – Head of the Radiation Oncology Department, "UMIT" International Oncological Center of Tomotherapy

Shayakhmetov Tanzhas Serikovich - Head of the Medical Physics Department, "UMIT" International Oncological Center of Tomotherapy

Aimenov Kairat Galymzhanovich – Radiation Oncologist, "UMIT" International Oncological Center of Tomotherapy

Nurgaliyev Dair Zhvanyshevich - Deputy Director for Oncology, National Research Center for Maternal and Child Health, Republic of Kazakhstan

Umirbekova Balzhan Bolatovna - Head of the program for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), National Research Center for Maternal and Child Health, Republic of Kazakhstan

Invited foreign experts:

Nechesnyuk Aleksey Vladimirovich – candidate of medical sciences, Head of the Radiation Therapy Department, “Dmitry Rogachev National Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology” Federal State Budgetary Institution of the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation (Moscow)

Kobyzeva Darya Alekseyevna - pediatric oncologist, Radiation Therapy Department, “Dmitry Rogachev National Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology” Federal State Budgetary Institution of the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation (Moscow)

Loginova Anna Anzorovna - leading medical physicist, Radiation Therapy Department, “Dmitry Rogachev National Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology” Federal State Budgetary Institution of the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation (Moscow)

Total body irradiation (TBI) is a form of radiation therapy when the entire body of a patient is exposed to radiation. The TBI procedure followed by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is an effective method for the treatment of blood cancers.

TBI is used in a way different from the most other types of radiation therapy: if targeted radiotherapy is meant to reduce or destroy one or more tumors in a certain part of the body, then the total body irradiation is used specifically to prepare the body for bone marrow transplantation.

In Kazakhstan, more than 9 000 patients are registered with oncological diseases of the hematopoietic and lymphatic systems, and up to 1 500 new cases are registered annually, of which 232 cases (as of 2021) are pediatric patients with acute leukemia. The 5-year overall survival rate in children (as of 2021) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia is about 72%. The need for total body irradiation as part of conditioning before HSCT is about 10-15 patients per year.

In connection with the urgent need for total body irradiation for children in Kazakhstan, it was decided to conduct a workshop at the "Umit" International Oncological Center of Tomotherapy with the participation of invited foreign experts from the Dmitry Rogachev National Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology.

The treatment management and planning for children in the "Umit" Center of Tomotherapy is performed by the Head of Radiation Oncology Department Tsoy B.V., Head of the Medical Physics Department Shayakhmetov T.S. and directly attending physician Aimenov K.G.

The accommodation and inpatient care for patients is carried out on the basis of the National Research Center for Maternal and Child Health, under the guidance of the Head of the HSCT Department Umirbekova B.B.

The key advantage of the total body irradiation on tomotherapy machine is better coverage of the target and homogeneity compared to other linear accelerators.