Radiotherapy and cancer care in Sweden

A systematic assessment of radiotherapy for cancer was conducted by The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU) in 2001. It included an overview of the organisation of radiotherapy and cancer care in Sweden and education of staff. It further included an update of cancer statistics for Sweden and an estimate of the need for radiotherapy resources by the year 2010. The following conclusions were drawn: Compared with a similar assessment in 1992, the number of departments of oncology at the county hospital level has increased by one, and one more department was scheduled to start radiotherapy during 2002. The speciality of oncology in Sweden includes all types of non-surgical cancer treatment, in contrast to the situation in most countries, where radiation oncology and medical oncology are independent specialities. Gynaecologic oncology is a unique speciality for Sweden. The number of new cancer cases increased by 13% between 1990 and 2000, and continues to increase by more than 1.0% per year. The projections of cancer incidence stated in the previous report were checked against observed data for the year 2000 and found to be an underestimation. To maintain the current capacity for radiotherapy in relation to number of new cancer cases by the year 2010, a total of 65 accelerators would be needed.