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Advanced Medical Treatments
covered under the Great Eastern Medical Card

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Note: The following list of advanced medical treatments is non-exhaustive and is subject to periodic revision by Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad.

No. Advanced Medical Treatment Description
1 BRACHYTHERAPY     Brachytherapy is a type of internal radiation therapy which includes interstitial radiation, intra-cavitary radiation, and high-dose rate or low-dose rate radiation. A sealed radiation source in the form of seeds, ribbons or capsules will be placed in the body, inside or next to the tumour area, through a catheter or applicator. Brachytherapy is often used to treat cancers of the head and neck, eye, breast, cervix and prostate.
2 CRYOABLATION Also known as cryosurgery. It is a form of minimally invasive treatment done using a hollow needle called cryoprobe, liquid nitrogen or argon gas under imaging guidance for individuals with localised cancer or as salvage therapy for recurrent cancer following failure of radiation therapy. Cryoablation freezes the diseased tissue and destroys the cells of the treated area. It is used to treat tumours of the skin, bone, liver, kidney, cervix and arrhythmia.
3 GAMMA KNIFE Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a non-invasive radiation therapy for brain tumours that allows most of the patient’s healthy brain tissue to be reserved. It is a specific form of radiation therapy that focuses intense beams of gamma rays with pinpoint precision to treat brain lesions. Usually, only sedation or local anaesthesia is needed for this treatment. Patients do not have to go under the knife and its outcome is similar to that of a surgical procedure.
4 HORMONE THERAPY FOR CANCER Hormone therapy, also known as hormonal or endocrine therapy, is a cancer treatment that slows or stops the growth of cancer (e.g. prostate and breast cancers that are hormone-receptor-positive). It is often used before surgery (neoadjuvant) to shrink the tumour size, or after surgery (adjuvant) to reduce recurrence risk. Hormone therapy works by either lowering the hormone level in the body, or blocking the hormonal action on the cancer cells.
5 IMMUNOTHERAPY FOR CANCER Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that stimulates or suppresses the patient’s natural immune system to fight cancer, and certain infectious or autoimmune disorders. Types of immunotherapy include cytokines, cancer vaccines, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), and monoclonal antibodies.
6 NEUTRON BEAM RADIATION THERAPY (NBRT)  NRBT is a form of external beam radiation therapy (ERBT) used in inoperable tumours or tumours that are resistant to conventional radiation therapy. It involves a sophisticated stereotactic method in which high energy neutrons (neutral charge subatomic particles) are exerted to accurately target the diseased tissue mass localised using computed tomography (CT). Often used in salivary gland cancers, soft tissue sarcoma and prostate cancers.
7 PROTON BEAM RADIOTHERAPY (PBRT) Proton Beam Radiotherapy (PBRT) is a type of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) that utilises protons (positively charged subatomic particles) that are precisely targeted to a specific tissue mass. Coverable for brain tumour, breast cancer, bone cancer, gastrointestinal tumour and prostate cancer.
8 ROBOTIC PROSTATECTOMY Also known as robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. This laparoscopic surgery is performed using the robotic approach which can only be controlled by experienced surgeons to remove prostate and nearby diseased tissues with more precision through small abdominal incisions. It is less invasive than conventional prostatectomy.
9 STEM CELLS FOR HEMATOPOIETIC CELLTRANSPLANT FOR HAEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) refers to intravenous infusion of healthy hematopoietic progenitor cells either autologous (stem cells from the same person going for transplant) or allogeneic (stem cells from a compatible donor other than the patient), harvested from bone marrow or peripheral blood to replace aberrant or dysfunctional cells in a patient. Examples of hematologic or blood cancers are leukaemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
10 TARGETED THERAPY FOR CANCER Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment that targets proteins that control how cancer cells grow, divide and spread. It interferes with specific proteins that help tumours grow and spread throughout the body. Types of targeted therapy include small-molecule drugs and monoclonal antibodies.
Information updated as on December 2021.

Disclaimer

Note: The list of advanced treatments above is non-exhaustive and subject to periodic revision by Great Eastern Life Assurance Berhad (GELM)

• GELM medical plans cover the above treatments and drugs that have been approved by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Malaysia. Any treatment or drug which is still under research or trial will NOT be covered.

 • The advanced treatments listed above will be covered under GELM medical plans only if they are deemed medically necessary and are the most optimal treatment for the patient’s condition, subject to the terms and conditions as listed in the policy contract.

 For enquiries, please call Healthcare Service Careline at 1300–1 300 18 or email: healthcareservices@greateasternlife.com

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