Your Support Helps Bring New PET/CT to Thunder Bay
Published Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Your Impact: New PET Replaces Ageing Unit and Provides New Possibilities
by Graham Strong
When Thunder Bay got its first PET/CT scanner in 2008, it was a major accomplishment. We were one of the first hospitals in Ontario to get this advanced scanner – PET/CT wasn't even approved for use in Ontario at the time except for research. It quickly became a very useful tool for diagnosing cancer as well as planning and monitoring treatments.
But 16 years is a long time in the medical technology world. The original unit was becoming obsolete and more prone to breakdowns. Community support has been overwhelming for the acquisition of this new technology – starting with Dancing with the Docs in November 2022, where over $250,000 was raised through the efforts of Trisha and Dr. Joseph Del Paggio, over 400 guests, and the 8 local doctors and 8 dancers who took part.
Sandra Willson, Manager of MRI, Ultrasound, and Nuclear Medicine at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, said the new unit isn't just a replacement though – it represents a huge advance in technology.
“The real upgrade is the way that the software works with the PET/CT,” Willson said. Advanced features such as motion correction decrease blur, making the images clearer and easier to read.
Not only that, imaging and processing times will be faster. That means less time for patients, both in terms of lying still on the table and reviewing the images before they leave.
“Whereas it could take 15 minutes to process those images on the old scanner, now it might take one or two minutes. That means we will be able to scan more patients in an hour, and get those patients in and out faster,” Willson said.
PET/CT is a type of molecular imaging that uses medical radioisotopes, many made in our cyclotron. These radioisotopes light up cancer cells, allowing doctors and technologists to pinpoint tumours in the body.
The upgraded PET/CT scanner offers new imaging possibilities. Recently, our Hospital introduced a new PET imaging technique specifically for prostate cancer called Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA). This technique lights up cancer cells not detectable by other imaging methods to check for recurrence in some prostate cancer patients. In the future, the upgraded technology can also be used for cardiac PET/CT and expanded research capabilities including potential clinical trials, which would directly benefit patients.
“Having this new PET/CT scanner will increase our capacity not only in number of patients but also in technology and the number of ways we can use it,” she said.
What's really exciting is that having both the new PET/CT and our cyclotron will offer many “build it and they will come” moments. New PET/CT imaging techniques for a wider array of cancers and other diseases are developed every year. Having our own cyclotron to produce many of those custom radioisotopes opens up more possibilities for diagnostic imaging and research.
People like you helped bring this new and vital technology to our Hospital! This is just one example of how your donations and support of the Thunder Bay 50/50 brings closer-to-home healthcare to our region.