[ RadSafe ] how many "gamma knives" are needed in the US ?

[Doug Aitken]

Franz:
You raise a valid point. And it is easily answered: there are far too many
of these devices (and all the other highly expensive high tech medical
devices) to meet the needs. However, this is endemic in the States, as
hospitals vie with each over to offer all the latest diagnostic and
surgical/intervention techniques.

Unfortunately, the cost is passed on to the population in the highest
medical costs on the planet.......

Regards
Doug

___________________________________
Doug Aitken
QHSE Advisor
D&M Operations Support
jdaitken at sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com
Mail: c/o Therese Wigzell,
Schlumberger,
Drilling & Measurements HQ,
300 Schlumberger Drive, MD15,
Sugar Land, Texas 77478


-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf
Of Franz Schönhofer
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 2:07 PM
To: 'Jaro'; 'RADSAFE'
Subject: [ RadSafe ] how many "gamma knives" are needed in the US ?

Jaro,

I think your original question was been answered in the meantime. But I
would like to raise a related question, namely: How many are needed? There
have been hard discussions about CT and its extreme radiation doses to the
patient and connected to this the question was, whether the need to finance
the huge investment would raise the number of CT's taken. (I am convinced
that this is the case!!!) So I think another good question is, how many
gamma-knives are actually needed in a certain area - which depends of course
on the number of cases to be treated. I understand that gamma-knives can be
only used for a very limited number of cases, which also are rather rare. (I
am sure that there is somebody on RADSAFE who can give more information.)

However, my question of how many gamma knives are needed is connected to my
country, Austria. The first gamma knife ordered and installed was some 20
years ago in Graz, the capital of the province of Styria. (A "Province" in
Austria might correspond to a "State" in the USA, at least for its legal
status, though by far not by size.....) How terrible! How could a province
install the newest equipment ahead of Vienna, which is not only legally a
"Province", but also the capital of all of Austria! It did not take a long
time and a gamma knife was installed in Vienna. At this time it was clear
that there were not enough patients for both installations, but they had to
be taken in from our surrounding neighbour countries. I have never read
again about this topic in mass media, but I wonder, what the "load factor"
is now!

Best regards,

Franz


Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von Jaro
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 23. September 2009 01:24
An: RADSAFE
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] how many "gamma knives" in the US ?

Anyone on Radsafe know how many "gamma knives" there currently are in the US
?

....in Canada, it appears that there are only three: the first was installed
in Winnipeg (2003), the next one in Sherbrooke, Quebec (2004) and the third
in Toronto, Ontario (2005).

Any additional info would be welcome.

Thnx

 Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



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