Cuenca Social Security hospital is the first in the country to perform stereotactic radiation treatment on a cancer patient

Cuenca’s José Carrasco Arteaga Hospital was the first hospital in Ecuador and one of the first in Latin America to use stereotactic radiosurgery. Doctors report that the procedure, performed on Tuesday, was successful in removing a brain tumor from a 55-year-old woman.

Cuenca patient is prepared for radiation treatment.

The procedure took only two minutes. After a short recovery period, the woman was allowed to leave the hospital and should lead a normal life, doctors say. As the woman left the hospital, her husband said she was pain-free for the first time in months.

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a form of high-intensity radiation therapy that focuses on a small area of the body, usually for the treatment of inoperable cancer. Despite its name, radiosurgery is a treatment, not a surgical procedure since no incisions are made in the body.

A linear accelerator housed outside the Carrasco Arteaga Hospital provides the energy necessary for the procedure. Carrasco Arteaga is part of Ecuador’s Social Security health care system.

The hospital has scheduled three more stereotactic procedures, to be performed by a team of specialists, within the next two weeks.

Because the procedure is performed on inoperable tumors, it is sometimes referred to as the “miracle beam.”