Partner: Rompetrol KMG International
We have transformed the space adjacent to the MRI machine into a dedicated intensive therapy structure for children with cancer, providing free and easy access to proper diagnosis and treatment for children with cancer admitted to this hospital. This way, children can avoid transportation to other hospitals.
The patients treated in the pediatric oncology unit of the Bucharest Institute of Oncology represent one third of the malignant pathology diagnosed throughout the country (according to data from the National Register of Child Cancer in Romania).
The pathology of the unit is almost exclusively composed of solid tumors. In all these cancers, MRI monitoring is essential in the therapeutic decision, being provided for in all modern treatment protocols, taken from the International Society of Pediatric Oncology, according to European standards.
In young children, MRI examination requiring general anesthesia, could not be performed at the Bucharest Institute of Oncology, due to the lack of an adequate space and in spite of the existence of a dedicated anesthetist.
In order to ensure the evaluation of the intra-therapeutic and post-therapeutic MRI for children with various neurological disorders and young age, they were directed to private MRI centers with the possibility to conduct the general anesthesia investigation. The number of these centers in Bucharest and the availability to receive these children is extremely low, so that, with great efforts, the department does not always manage to respect the correct MRI evaluation intervals, which can sometimes affect the evolution of the malignant disease indirectly, by not adapting the treatment in time.
An important aspect of the difficulties of performing MRI imaging with general anesthesia in other locations than in Bucharest Institute of Oncology is that it costs there. Even though the investigation itself is compensated by the National Health Insurance House, general anesthesia does not enter into the health services supported by health insurance, even if, according to the law, children have complete gratuity in terms of medical services. The costs of anesthesia were covered by the parents or, most often by organizations that support the medical activity of the department.
