Message from Parker Jones
Published Monday, April 18, 2022
Last year, we passed a major milestone in closer-to-home care.
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre announced that it started using radioisotopes produced in our cyclotron for patient care in 2021. You know how big of a deal this is for those of you who have been following the cyclotron program.
Previously, the Health Sciences Centre relied upon a vendor in Hamilton, Ontario to supply the radioisotopes needed for our patients. The problem is that the half-life of a radioisotope is measured in hours, not weeks or even days. If there were any delays due to weather or other transportation issues, the radioisotopes would become unusable. The delays would go on down the line: delayed scans, delayed diagnostics, and ultimately delayed treatment if needed.
It was incredibly frustrating for people travelling to Thunder Bay from across the region. Too often, patients would get to the Hospital for their PET scan only to find out that they would have to reschedule. This happened often: during the cyclotron’s startup test month, on two occasions radioisotope deliveries from southern Ontario never arrived.
So what’s the answer? Produce our own.
Thanks to our many generous donors inspired by a special matching gift from the Paterson Foundation, we established a cyclotron program here in Thunder Bay. Now, we have a safe, reliable source of radioisotopes travelling across the parking lot, no longer across the province. This means more imaging diagnostics options and faster treatment planning for early diagnosis and management of cancer. It also expands capacity. Diagnostic imaging can see nine patients per day – almost double the previous five-patient capacity when isotopes were outsourced from southern Ontario.
Overall, producing our own isotopes means there are fewer cancelled and rescheduled appointments, which in turn leads to shorter times to diagnosis. This will have an incredible impact on local cancer care.
Having the cyclotron here also allows Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute scientists to expand their research capabilities. For example, Dr. Jinqiang Hou, the Lakehead University-TBRHRI Research Chair, is using PET to find new ways of diagnosing different diseases including cancer and to help develop new drug treatments. Both will, as Dr. Hou puts it, “pave the way for personalized medicine.”
I want to thank everyone who contributed to bringing the cyclotron to Thunder Bay. It represents a huge step towards better healthcare, closer to home. We should all be proud to be a part of it.
Parker Jones