Government is investing $35 million in the latest medical technology to improve access to better diagnostic care and maintain British Columbia's position as a leader in cutting edge medical treatment, announced Premier Gordon Campbell and Health Services Minister Colin Hansen.
"Investing in advanced medical technology is one of the best ways we can ensure British Columbians have access to the most effective treatment and care," Campbell said. "It's important that we make those investments throughout B.C., to bring state-of-the-art treatment options to patients closer to where they live. This is more than an investment in the latest technology – it's an investment in our health care professionals and in the health and future of the people they care for every single day all across this province."
Highlights of the new equipment include:
· PET/CT scanner at the BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver Cancer Centre: This is the first publicly funded PET unit for the province. It will improve the management of cancer patients by providing accurate pre-treatment detection of cancerous tumours and monitoring therapy response to improve recovery.
· Three new 64-slice CT scanners at Royal Columbian Hospital, Royal Jubilee Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital: Sixty-four slice scanners allow virtual angiographies to be done faster and less expensively than invasive angiographies and will further improve cardiac care in B.C. They are state-of-the-art x-ray machines that produce three-dimensional pictures of a cross section of the body. This will increase provincial capacity for diagnosing heart and brain disease as well as handling trauma cases.
- A mobile MRI scanner for the Kootenays and south Okanagan, and a new 32-slice CT scanner at Kelowna General Hospital: The mobile MRI will significantly improve access for residents of Interior Health to technology that obtains precise images of tissue and various organs in the body without using x-rays. The new CT scanner will enhance access in the Interior for patients with wide ranging needs, including improved trauma diagnosis.
- MRI scanner upgrade at UBC Hospital: The upgrade will further enhance the quality of scans for patients referred from across the province with complex neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's diseases and other neuropsychiatric disorders.
- Systems technology in the North: Advanced radiology and pharmaceutical systems for the Northern Health Authority will enhance access to care and treatment in many small communities while taking advantage of skilled professionals who are located in regional centres. A Picture Archiving Communication System and a Radiology Information System will allow digital images to be shared between hospitals/regions and radiologists across the north. An automated medication dispensing system will allow pharmacists in larger northern centres to provide support and safe and effective drug distribution and dispensing in hospitals across the north.
- Laboratory Centre of Excellence for Genomics in Vancouver – A leading edge investment in a provincial genomics laboratory that will move ahead our diagnostic, treatment and research agenda in this important and growing area of medicine.
- Radiopharmaceutical Lab and Cyclotron at Vancouver Cancer Centre – A new laboratory and equipment to support advances in nuclear medicine and other forms of advanced imaging. In addition, radioactive isotopes created in this laboratory will be used to treat specific types of cancer.
PET/CT at the BC Cancer Agency
With the establishment of the Centre of Excellence in Functional Imaging, the BC Cancer Agency will be the home of the province's first publicly funded PET scanner. Scheduled to be available in March 2005, PET scans at the Agency's Vancouver Centre will be an important advance in our ability to diagnose disease and plan treatment, particularly in the area of oncology.
What is PET/CT?
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a non-invasive, whole-body functional imaging technique that when combined with Computed Tomography (CT), allows physicians to more accurately diagnose, stage and manage disease, particularly cancer. In other words, PET can show whether or not a lesion is cancerous, and CT can show exactly where in the body the lesion is.
How does PET/CT work?
Malignant cells are very metabolically active, and use sugar as an energy source. PET takes a special type of sugar and attaches a radioactive component (18-fluorodeoxyglucose, or 18-FDG) to it, which is then injected into the patient. The PET scanner can detect changes at the cellular level by monitoring the rate of which cells absorb the FDG. This allows physicians to tell where normal and abnormal metabolic activity is happening in the body. Combining this information with the CT, a physician can now tell which cells contain cancer and where in the body these cells are.
What is the benefit of PET/CT?
PET benefits both patients and health care professionals. For the patient, it is a single test that is highly effective at showing the presence and progress of disease, and how well the patient is responding to treatment. For the health care professional, it is an improved diagnostic tool allowing the most appropriate and effective choice of therapy.
How PET/CT is used
PET can help more accurately stage an initial cancer diagnosis, it can help the oncologist to choose the most appropriate treatment plan for a patients, it can help monitor the progress and effectiveness of the treatment, and help avoid unnecessary surgeries or invasive procedures.
PET at the BC Cancer Agency
The ability to provide PET imaging for diagnostic and research purposes will be an important tool in the BC Cancer Agency's Centre of Excellence for Functional Imaging. It will also bring a very effective, cutting-edge technology to the residents of B.C.
What is the Centre of Excellence for Functional Imaging?
The BC Cancer Agency, in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences Centre, BC Children's Hospital and TRIUMPH, are developing a centre that will include a cyclotron, a radionuclide pharmacy, and the PET/CT scanner. These programs will accelerate the BC Cancer Agency's translational research mandate, and enable the Agency to compete on a world stage for research funds.
What is the cyclotron and radiopharmacy?
A cyclotron is a particle accelerator responsible for producing the radioactive part of the tracer. The radiopharmacy combines this material with a 'carrier' that results in 18F-FDG. These facilities need to be close to the PET/CT imager because the tracers have a very short half-life: giving only 75 seconds to 110 minutes to get from the pharmacy to the patient.
Why are organizations other than the BC Cancer Agency involved in the Centre?
With the scope of the project being developed, expertise from various organizations is needed to ensure the overall success of the Centre. While the majority of scans will be used to benefit cancer patients of all ages with specific indications, there are other patients with specific neurological and cardiac conditions – including children – who will also benefit.