Cancer care

Care
INCA delivers complete cancer care at no cost to its patients, from staging to rehabilitation and palliative care.

Every year, it averages 8.500 new admissions, more than 240.000 consultations and approximately 13.000 inpatients. INCA is the one care center of the Integrated Public Health System to offer stereotactic radiosurgery, a radiation therapy technique that delivers radiation directly to the tumor while sparing the healthy tissue.

INCA’s outcomes are comparable to the best oncology centers in the world due to sophisticated systems, which provide online data to all its units and help monitoring our patients. The analysis of information leads to continuous and effective improvement in all practices providing the population with quality in cancer care. According to the Institution´s planning in quality management, INCA is now on track for accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. That means that we submit to evaluations of our compliance with international hospital standards on a continuing basis.

Moreover, every care unit of the Institute provides ongoing clinical research protocols and professional training, which ranges from technical to post-graduation level.

Cancer Care Units
Hospital of Cancer I - INCA´s major cancer care unit and one of the best
equipped hospitals of the Ministry of Health . It delivers high complexity
cancer care to adult and pediatric patients with different types of cancer.

Hospital of Cancer II - especially designed to provide care to adults with
gynaecological cancer.

Hospital of Cancer III - this hospital plays an important role on breast
cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Hospital of Cancer IV - provides comfort and palliative care and pain
management. It is the one in Rio de Janeiro to focus on home care.

Center for Bone Marrow Transplants - This unit coordinates and runs multidisciplinary treatment to patients with malignant hematologic and genetic diseases eligible for bone marrow transplantation. It runs the National Register for Bone Marrow Donors (REDOME) and the National Register of Bone Marrow Recipients (REREME).

The National Cancer Institute was the first to set up a Cord Blood Bank and to deliver blood-forming cells to the first bone marrow transplantation performed in Brazil with the new methodology.

In 2004 INCA has set new records in Bone Marrow Transplantation by achieving the largest number of transplantation procedures in its history and by starting a National Bone Marrow Donor Campaign. With the support of civil and military institutions and organizations from the private and public sector the number of unrelated donors has increased by 100% in less than 12 months.

The Cancer Care Expansion Program – Expande
The Cancer Care Expansion Program conducted by INCA aims to increase the installed capacity in the Public Health System in Brazilian regions where cancer care is either unavailable or poorly established.

Priority is given to the implementation and expansion of Oncology High Complexity Centers (CACON) in many sites throughout the country to provide good coverage to the Brazilian population. This process includes the planning, acquisition of equipment, health professionals training, control and permanent general supervision in all new or existing local facilities. Seven CACON have been established in Brazil until the end of 2004. INCA plans to establish six more CACON until 2008, four of them shall be in operation up to 2006.

The Quality Management Program in Radiation Therapy – PQRT
Established in 1999, this national Program has a principal aim to serve all those radiation therapy institutions that deliver services within the Brazilian Public Health System (SUS). INCA provides advice and recommendations on a range of matters affecting radiation oncology, such as equipment calibration and health care professionals training.

In recognition of outstanding work in this area, INCA will receive a financing from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to implement a quality assurance program for intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and in vivo dosimetry. INCA was also invited to join Canada, England, China, Pakistan and Croatia in an international research project carried out by IAEA.