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30 August 2022 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons
UFS Nuclear Medicine
The team of doctors in the Department of Nuclear Medicine behind the success story are, from the left (standing): Dr Osayande Evbuomwan, nuclear medicine specialist and Senior Lecturer; Dr Gerrit Engelbrecht, Clinical Head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the UFS; and Dr Walter Endres, nuclear medicine registrar. In front is Dr Tebatso Tebeila, nuclear medicine registrar.
The University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Nuclear Medicine is proud to announce the successful treatment outcome of a patient with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (MCRPC) – an advanced stage of prostate cancer – by using Lutetium 177 PSMA (Lu-177 PSMA) therapy. This was initially a case of advanced stage prostate cancer, which had failed first-line chemotherapy, leaving little or no other treatment options.

This is a proud and happy moment for the department and the UFS, which started this treatment just over a year ago. The university and the Free State province are now joining other South African medical universities, such as the University of Pretoria, and other provinces in using this method to treat MCRPC patients. Lutetium 177 PSMA (Lu-177 PSMA) therapy is used on MCRPC patients who are not eligible for chemotherapy or have failed first- or second-line chemotherapy.

Dr Gerrit Engelbrecht, Clinical Head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the UFS, says the department is proud to be able to offer this treatment option to some of these patients. “It is a big win for the Free State and our oncology patients to be able to offer these expert services.” The UFS and Universitas Academic Hospital have now been able to join up with other academic institutions and hospitals in other provinces to offer these services. So far, three patients have been offered this therapeutic option, with the third patient currently undergoing his treatment.

Funds and equipment for proper treatment selection are needed

The expertise is no longer an issue for the UFS, as Dr Osayande Evbuomwan, nuclear medicine specialist and consultant, was trained and exposed to this therapy at the University of the Witwatersrand during his training as a nuclear medicine resident. Current registrars in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the UFS are also being trained in the application of this treatment modality. However, proper patient selection is key in the management of these cases with Lu 177 PSMA. Without a PET/CT camera, it is challenging to appropriately select the patients who are most likely to respond to this therapy. This is an example of how PET/CT is crucial in the management and monitoring of oncology patients.

Both Drs Engelbrecht and Evbuomwan hope that the training of more registrars will increase their department’s capacity to treat more patients. They also hope that funds will be made available to acquire a much-needed PET/CT camera, which will greatly assist them in identifying the correct patients in need of this treatment. 

With the permission of the patient, the images above show the dramatic treatment response following Lu-177 PSMA therapy. The images on the left show widespread bone disease from the prostate cancer, including the skull. The images on the right show the dramatic response after completing four cycles of Lu 177 PSMA, with the normal excretion of the radiotracer seen in the liver, kidneys, and bladder.


Treatment puts the department, UFS, and hospital on the map

According to Dr Evbuomwan, the ability to administer this treatment puts the department, the UFS, and the hospital on the map, alongside other top universities within and outside the country. Says he: “It also creates an avenue for us to gather data for training, research purposes, and publications. We are now able to offer a promising, safe, and highly efficacious therapy for patients with MCRPC in the Free State. Some of these patients will no longer have to travel to other provinces to receive this treatment.”


“We are also well aware that not every patient will respond this way; however, proper patient selection is key in identifying responders – an area that is still being researched. We also do not know how long these patients will have their disease under control after the treatment. Nuclear medicine’s greatest cancer therapy success story is the treatment of well-differentiated thyroid cancer with radioactive iodine.” 

“After treatment, most of these patients remain cancer-free for a very long period of time, if not for life. With continuing research in the field of MCRPC radioligand therapy, we aim to improve the treatment modality, hopefully getting it to the success level of thyroid cancer therapy.”

 

News Archive

Research project gives insight into the world of the deaf
2005-11-30

Mr Akach in conversation (using sign language) with his assistant Ms Emily Matabane. Photo: Lacea Loader

UFS research project gives insight into the world of the deaf

The Sign Language Division of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Afro-Asiatic Studies and Language Practice and Sign Language has signed a bilateral research project with the universities of Ghent and Brussels to write a book on sign language. 

“We want to compare the Belgium and South African sign languages with each other.  The book will be about the deaf telling us about themselves and how they live.  It will also focus on the use of story telling techniques and the grammar used by deaf people.  We want to see if the hand forms and the grammatical markers and other linguistic features that deaf people from these two countries use are the same or not,” said Mr Philemon Akach, lecturer at the UFS Sign Language Division and coordinator of the research.  

According to Mr Akach, the sign language community in South Africa, with about 600 000 deaf people who use South African Sign Language (SASL) as first language, is quite big.  “Over and above the deaf people in South Africa, there are also the non-deaf who use SASL, like the children of deaf parents etc.  This book can therefore be used to teach people about the deaf culture,” he added.

Another of Mr Akach’s achievements is his election as Vice-President of the newly established World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI).  The association was established earlier this month during a conference in Worcester.

Mr Akach has been actively involved with sign language interpretation since 1986 and has been interpreting at the World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) since 1987.  “My appointment as Vice-President of the WASLI is an emotional one.  I have been involved with deaf people for so long and have been trying to create awareness and obtain recognition for sign language, especially in Africa,” said Mr Akach.  WASLI is affiliated to the WFD.

According to Mr Akach there was no formal structure in the world to support sign language and sign language interpreters.   “Now we have the backup of WASLI and we can convince governments in other African countries and across the world to support deaf people by supporting WASLI and therefore narrow the communication gap between the deaf and the hearing.  My main aim as Vice-President is to endeavour for the recognition of sign language and spoken language interpreters as a profession by governments,” he said. 

According to Mr Akach the formal training of interpreters is of vital importance.  “Anybody who has a deaf person in his/her family and can communicate in sign language can claim that they are an interpreter.  This is not true.  It is tantamount to think that all mother tongue or first language speakers are interpreters.  Likewise students who learn sign language up to whatever level and are fluent in signing, should still join an interpreter’s programme,” he said.

“Sign language interpreting is a profession and should be presented as an academic course alongside other spoken languages.  The UFS has been taking the lead with sign language and spoken language interpretation and was the first university on the African continent to introduce sign language as an academic course,” he said.

“Although sign language has always been an unknown language to young people it has become quite popular in recent years.  This year we had a total of 160 students at the Sign Language Section of the UFS and the numbers seem to increase steadily every year,” he said.

Mr Akach’s assistant, Ms Emily Matabane, is deaf and they communicate in sign language.  Ms Matabane also handles the tutorials with students to give them hands-on experience on how to use sign language.  


Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
30 November 2005

 

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