Hospital offers specialised chemotherapy treatment

Janos Balega, a gynaecological oncologist, said City Hospital was the first in the Midlands to have the specialised machine

A hospital has started offering a technique called heated chemotherapy for ovarian cancer patients, in a development that it said was a first for the Midlands.

Birmingham's City Hospital will offer the treatment using a specialised machine that bathes the patient's abdomen in a heated chemotherapy solution.

The treatment could prolong patients' lives and provide them with "extremely precious" extra time, said Janos Balega, a consultant gynaecological oncologist at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, which runs the hospital.

Patients will be seen from Greater Birmingham, Sandwell, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and Walsall, the trust said.

The treatment is delivered by a hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) machine, which uses a heated chemotherapy solution to kill remaining cancer cells after surgeons have removed all visible tumours.

"We are the first in the Midlands to have this machine and will see our first cohort of patients benefiting directly from the treatment throughout this month," Mr Balega said.

Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust also runs Sandwell General Hospital and Rowley Regis Hospital.