Liv Hospital
Liv Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in Turkey, with an in-patient capacity of 159 beds. Located in Istanbul, Ulus. It is a tertiary referral hospital with the adoption of highly advanced technology, Liv Hospital has seen uninterrupted growth in the areas of research, medical studies and personnel development.
Brachy expertise
Liv Hospital introduced brachytherapy in April 2018.
Radiation oncologists and physicists from the Liv hospital attended the image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (IGABT) GYN workshop in Vienna, the prostate HDR workshop in Leeds, the ABS annual Meeting in Miami. The hospital was quick to adopt this technology and has been offering 3D gynecological brachytherapy with several applicators to its patients since 2018 first using CT-based planning from the beginning and MR planning capabilities at 2019.
Prof. Dr. Merdan Fayda has been working in the area brachytherapy during his entire carrier since 1999. He started with LDR gyn brachy with 2D planning and now he is an active 4D prostate HDR user. Liv Hospital has an extensive brachytherapy service with a special focus on gynecological (1/3 with interstitial), prostate, skin brachytherapy, relapsed cancer with intraoperative interstitial brachytherapy facilities.
The center has state-of-the art brachytherapy facilities and a dedicated brachy team of 2 radiation oncologists, 1 physicist, 1 nurse (25 years’ experience) and 1 support staff. Around 110 patients receive brachytherapy treatment a year. The center is equipped with HDR image-based treatment and is recognized as an expert center in the region.
Educational activities
From 1 July 2019 Liv Hospital is a designated global Educational Center on 3D brachytherapy for skin, superficial, gynecological (free needle insertion) and prostate cancer (4D real-time US-guided HDR) brachytherapy techniques.
Training visits to the hospital are organized for people wishing to observe clinical workflows and daily practices at first hand.
The hospital can host 1 to 5 days in-house training on aspects of gynecological patient preparation, sedo-analgesia procedures, image acquisition, planning CT with MR-guidance.
Through extensive discussions and hands-on exercises, participants will gain comprehensive practical insight into the clinical workflow of 3D IGABT for gynecological tumors.