PORTSMOUTH Hospitals have launched their latest Rocky Appeal to provide a new cancer laboratory benefiting patients in a unique way.
The Rocky Appeal, which took place over the last three years to raise £1.5m, has reached its target and a major new renal unit will be opening later in the year on the top floor of Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham.
Now the appeal hopes to provide a £2m facility aimed at revolutionising anti-cancer treatment through the use of customised chemotherapy drugs.
Cancer is a very complex disease that needs treatment tailored to each patientÕs individual needs. Treatment may include surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. The number of drugs used for cancer chemotherapy is growing rapidly and many of the new drugs are more effective than the older ones, though some have nasty side effects. Treatment for each patient needs to be selected carefully to get the best results.
The treatment of each patient is decided at Ômulti-disciplinaryÕ team meetings where doctors, nurses and other staff meet to discuss each case and decide how best to tackle the patientÕs disease. Pathologists provide detailed information about cancer cells, including the cancer type, how far it has spread and to which drug it may respond.
The last of these is the most difficult but methods pioneered in Portsmouth are now making a real difference to the ability of cancer doctors to treat patients effectively. However, the existing laboratory is becoming too small and needs to be replaced so that the tests needed to guide the use of these new drugs can be provided.
The new cancer laboratory created by the Rocky Appeal will provide an improved cancer testing service to the Portsmouth area and will be a centre for research as well as clinical excellence. Staff will train people from other areas to set up similar clinics.
At £2m this will be the largest Rocky Appeal to date, but a spokesman for the hospital said the potential benefitswere enormous.