The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has a new tool in the fight against cancer.
A new state-of- the-art digital Positron Emission Tomography – Computed Tomography (PET/CT) scanner, which can detect the presence of cancer in its earliest stages has been acquired by the hospital network.
“As a regional cancer centre, this invaluable resource will make a significant difference to patients in so many ways and help promote important research,” said Dr. Jonathan Romsa, the LHSC's chief of division of nuclear medicine. “This will greatly expand imaging capacity within London and our broader region, improving wait times, and enabling care closer to home for many patients who previously had to travel greater distances. This will be helpful especially for paediatric patients who have up until now, often been referred for scans outside the region.”
Funding for the new diagnostic tool came from the London Health Sciences Foundation and Ontario Health/Cancer Care Ontario. The machine can scan as many as 25 patients a day, detecting numerous types of cancer and cardiovascular and neurologic diseases in both adults and children.
According to the LHSC, the device not only detects disease at a molecular level, but can monitor response to treatments and increase the effectiveness of radiation therapy. It accomplishes this by combining PET and CT scans and x-rays to map out tracers in the body that point to overactive cells, while producing a detailed three-dimensional image.
“Along with advancements to our imaging capabilities this system will enhance collaboration across medical disciplines to promote academic and clinical research activities that will lead to improved health outcomes for our patients,” said Stephen Nelli, the coordinator of nuclear medicine at LHSC. “This state-of-the-art technology will help physicians locate disease early while decreasing imaging time and radiation dose.”
The scanner will be brought online at the LHSC later this month.
