Expert: It is impossible to live without nuclear medicine today

ArmInfo. Today in Armenia, the second most common group of diseases is oncology, which puts a heavy burden on both medicine and the economy. The growth in the  mortality rate leads to a decrease in GDP growth of 0.5%. In other words, public health directly affects the state of the country's economy.Unfortunately, in Armenia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the incidence rate has reached a critical level  and in terms of growth rates ranks first among the countries of the former USSR.

Without new high-quality medical technologies, the  republic can not cope with the problem. In the National Center of  OncologyV.A. In a year around 11,000 patients receive medical care.   Also there is a specialized center in the second largest and most  important city of Armenia - Gyumri.  Substantial changes were made in  these centers: medical equipment was modernized, buildings were  repaired. However, due to the increase in morbidity, the presence of  one or even two medical centers is not enough.In recent years, the  Russian Federation has become an increasingly active player in the  nuclear medicine market. The Russian company Rosatom is among the  five largest producers of raw medical isotopes in the world, and it  is no coincidence that Rosatom began deliveries of equipment for  medical institutions of Armenia.In early 2015, the first generator of  Technetium-99m with a capacity of 19 GBq produced by OAO NIFHI. L.Ya.   Karpov. "Generators and sets of Russian-made ones are sent to JSC"  National Center of Oncology named after. V.A. Fanardzhyan "and ZAO"  Scientific Research Institute of Cardiology. L. Oganesyan. "The need  for Armenia in isotopes is more than 5 thousand doses per year In  March 2015, the C-18 cyclotron was installed on the territory of the  A.Alikhanyan National Scientific Laboratory (Yerevan Institute of  Physics), thus, prerequisites appeared in Armenia for local  production of radiopharmaceuticals in quantities fully covering the  state's need.As of April 2017, a medical cyclotron was installed on  the territory of the Institute of Physics, thanks to which, on the  basis of obtaining the fluorine isotope (F18) The project will be  carried out in several stages.The first stage is the launch of the  Center for the Production of Radioisotopes and Molecular  Diagnostics.The medical facility will be equipped with the most  modern laboratory medical equipment.The presence of a scan will allow  the highest level of diagnostics of malignant tumors in the body,  and, at the cellular level. In the issue of the completion of the  project, Armenia counts on assistance from a number of states and  companies, as well as on the introduction of best practices.

Aram Avetisov, associate professor of the Department of Radiation  Medicine and Ecology of the Belarusian State Medical University, said  that Armenia and Belarus have all the prerequisites for developing  bilateral cooperation in the field of nuclear medicine. Moreover, an  intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of  nuclear energy has been signed and ratified. In Belarus, the first  steps have been taken to develop this type of medicine. There are all  the latest technologies, including positron emission tomography  (PET), which, together with other technologies for promptly obtaining  medical information in the language of experts, is called  "visualization of medical information." "This is the latest squeak of  fashion and a tribute to the speed and efficiency against a  relatively small price," said Aram Avetisov, expressing confidence  that joint efforts can achieve good results in this direction. The  technology of positron emission and computed tomography (PET / CT)  makes it possible not only to quickly examine the appearance of  certain pathological parts of organs and tissues, but also to see how  the metabolism proceeds in them, how these tissues are located in  relation to neighboring organs. Cancer cells are more active than  others grow and multiply, so they consume more glucose. Before the  study, glucose labeled with radioactive fluorine is injected into the  patient's body, and it is with the help of a PET scanner that it  indicates the location and size of the tumor. This allows doctors to  see the "portrait" of cancer, to reveal the smallest foci of the  disease. At the same time, the PET / KET procedure is absolutely  painless.  The patient will find out the results of the diagnosis on  the same day that the study was conducted. "Of course, we should  follow those who have gone through a certain path and have the  necessary experience:  Japan, the United States, the European Union  countries," the expert said, expressing hope for the establishment of  cooperation between Armenia and Belarus, which will lead to the  implementation of joint programs. "Without nuclear medicine, today it  is impossible to live, because it is a safe and effective method of  diagnostics and treatment using modern technologies," Aram Avetisov  stated, adding that with the use of this technology the population's  health will only improve. The expert stressed that the sphere of  oncology is far from the only field of application of nuclear  medicine, although it is most in demand. To this area, it is also  necessary to include cardiology and neurology, in which the most  advanced nuclear technologies are actively used. In particular, with  the help of nuclear medicine, today there are all possibilities for  assessing the functioning of the right and left stomachs,  visualization of the blood supply to the heart muscle, detection of  the epilepsy focus, visualization of the consequences of  craniocerebral trauma, etc.However, in most cases, nuclear medicine  is nevertheless called upon to solve the problems of the treatment of  oncological diseases. The expert noted that nuclear medicine performs  such tasks as detection of tumors, metastases and relapses,  determining the extent of the tumor process, differential diagnosis  of diseases, as well as treatment of malignant tumors and evaluation  of the effectiveness of antitumor therapy. Diagnostic methods used in  nuclear medicine are highly effective in the music lover, lymphoma,  lung cancer, head and neck tumors, esophagus cancer, stomach,  pancreas, ovaries, cervix, breast, prostate. Thanks to the  development of medicine in general, the average life expectancy,  especially in developed countries, is increasing.It should be noted  that according to the IAEA, annually the demand for nuclear medicine  services in the world will grow by 10-22%. The value of advances in  nuclear medicine is to identify diseases that are not diagnosed by  other methods in the early stages. Early diagnosis of cancer  significantly increases the patient's chances of recovery.