Proposal for radio-oncologic needs planning
Sauer, R.
Strahlentherapie und Onkologie Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft . 162(10): 646-655
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0179-7158 PMID: 3775651 Document Number: 273853
The demand planning for radio-oncologic treatment considers the population density and structure of the region served by the hospital, the geographic conditions of this region, the medical prescriptions of the hospital institution, the incidence of cancer, the part of radiotherapy in the treatment of the tumor, hospital-specific factors and, finally, the minimum requirements for technical equipment and staff of a radiotherapeutic functional unit. The most important factors are certainly the incidence of cancer and the number of tumor patients actually receiving a radiotherapy. For the Federal Republic of Germany, an incidence of annually 300 to 320 new cancers per 100,000 inhabitants is determined, based on the mortality statistics of the Federal Republic of Germany, England, Wales and Norway as well as the cancer incidence statistics of Hamburg, Baden-Württemberg, Saarland and the very reliable registers of Scandinavia and the German Democratic Republic. The part of radiotherapy is probably between 32 and 35% of primary treatments, repeated treatments must be added. With respect to technical equipment and staff, some minimum requirements have to be fulfilled by a radiotherapeutic functional unit if its work shall be satisfactory in the medical and economical domain. A concentration of radiotherapeutic resources is recommended. The number of beds required for a radio-oncologic hospital applying modern techniques and combined methods is 40 to 45% of the number of patients irradiated per day. A three-category system for radio-oncologic treatment is presented. Future planning, however, should only be based on two categories.