Siemens Healthineers pioneers breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. Sustainably.
Siemens Healthineers Middle East & Africa
As a leading medical technology company with activities in more than 180 countries, Siemens Healthineers is committed to improving access to healthcare for underserved communities worldwide and is striving to overcome the most threatening diseases.
One of the most threatening diseases of our time with increasing numbers across the globe is cancer. With the acquisition of Varian Medical Systems Inc. in 2021, Siemens Healthineers intensified its endeavours to improve and accelerate the patient journey from cancer diagnosis to therapy to survivorship.
Vivek Kanade, Managing Director of Siemens Healthineers Middle East & Africa, discusses the path to enabling comprehensive and intelligent cancer care.
Why and how does your company specifically focus on cancer as a rising health threat?
Vivek Kanade: With cancer, we are talking about one of the most threatening diseases worldwide with significantly increasing numbers of incidences and deaths. Having a closer look at our region, these numbers are forecasted to rise even faster in Africa than in any other region in the world. While in 2020, around 0.7 million people in Africa died from cancer, it is estimated that, if the current growth of cancers is not checked, this number will rise by 2030 to around 1.1 million people, while the infrastructure for cancer treatment is by far not as developed as in Europe and the US. (source: World Health Organization)
As Siemens Healthineers and together with our colleagues from Varian, we are following our vision of a world without fear of cancer. We have unrivalled capabilities in this area that we can offer to governments and specialized healthcare centres, as our portfolio of equipment and services puts us in a unique position to look at the entire cancer healthcare and patient continuum.
Can you please elaborate further on these solutions?
Vivek Kanade: As a medical technology provider specialized not only in cancer care, we are looking beyond the treatment room and we are exploring how different clinical areas and disciplines in imaging, diagnostics, healthcare IT, interventional radiology and other specialties can come together to transform the entire cancer pathway. As recent and upcoming innovations in radiation therapy are creating new possibilities to enable ever more accurate, precise and effective treatments for cancer, we make sure to remain at the forefront of innovation and its integration into our intelligent cancer care portfolio to
further enhance the patient’s journey.
What does this journey look like from your perspective?
Vivek Kanade: Being one of the most complex diseases we know, the cancer patient journey is fragmented, involves many different specialists and might therefore never be linear. But with required technology, resources, and intelligence, the healthcare industry and we, as a company, should strive to streamline and connect processes and create a clearer and smoother pathway.
The journey starts with screening as a 1st step, as it can help find cancer before any symptoms appear. With early detection determining the difficulty of treatment and success rate of cure, Siemens Healthineers’ range of systems from mammography and ultrasound to low-dose CT scanners, MRI systems and robust AI image analysis provides these solutions.
In a 2nd step, a correct and timely diagnosis needs to be made and verified through additional diagnostic images and laboratory tests with oncology assays, providing the patient with clarity about his/her disease. Here again, Siemens Healthineers is able to provide the entire range of solutions while being able to focus on connecting technologies and further reducing valuable time it takes from detection to the onset of treatment.
After diagnosis, the treatment journey starts in the 3rd step, where choosing or combining the right image modality for treatment planning is essential, whether it be CT or MRI. Defining, the treatment target is essential at this stage along with the normal tissue and critical structures, a process which is supported by artificial intelligence. Treatment plans of a high quality and consistency may then be developed with the assistance of machine learning based tools. Once the plan is approved, it may be delivered using a range of techniques (image guided, intensity modulated, gated or adaptive), all supported by a comprehensive portfolio of liner accelerators.
The last milestone and 4th step is survivorship, which largely consists of regular follow-ups and detection of any recurrences to enable minimally invasive treatment if and only when required. The overarching vision is to change the perception of cancer and shift it towards a manageable chronic disease.
What, in your opinion, does the future of cancer care look like?
Vivek Kanade: The way forward for the healthcare industry is to create a comprehensive, intelligent cancer pathway and enable access to it where it is needed most. Siemens Healthineers together with Varian focuses exactly on this, providing all relevant imaging technologies for screening and early detection, supporting physicians with a timely diagnosis and clarity through latest laboratory tests and by providing personalized solutions to the treatment process, based on individual requirements, stage of disease and pre-existing conditions. And ultimately, connecting all these technologies to further reduce timings between the pathway steps and increase success rates of treatment.
