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21
Jun

REGION’S ONLY PET/CT CLINIC FORCED TO SUSPEND CANCER SCANNING INDEFINITELY

Precision Diagnostic Imaging PET/CT Centre, the operator of Windsor and the Erie St. Clair LHIN’s only PET/CT is suspending cancer scanning today after being informed by the provincial Ministry of Health that it will not assist in urgent repairs to the equipment required to allow the centre to resume patient scanning. The Ministry has also said it will not provide the same level of funding it gives to Sudbury for similar PET/CT services making it financially impossible to operate in Windsor.

PET/CT scanning is the most advanced and sophisticated diagnostic tool invented by mankind to date. A PET/CT scan may be done to:

  • diagnose cancer at the molecular level before it has affected the anatomical structures of the body
  • determine the stage of the cancer (find out how far the cancer has spread and if it is present in other organs and tissues)
  • PET/CT scan is used if other imaging tests are unclear, inconclusive or surgical procedures are not possible.
  • find out if cancer treatment is working
  • check if cancer has come back (recurred) after treatment or spread to other locations
  • diagnose nervous system, cardiovascular and other diseases

Approximately 500 cancer patients received PET/CT scans last year at the Ministry of Health-approved independent health facility (IHF) which has been in operation in Windsor since August 2011. The clinic has been plagued over the years by Ministry of Health funding cutbacks and short–falls, as well as denial of funding for equipment upgrades and emergency repairs.

The centre operates on a base funding amount of $300,000 per year. Last month, the Ministry of Health announced funding for a similar new centre in Sudbury, Ontario, with approximately the same population base and patients per year. That centre will receive funding of $1.6 million dollars per year to operate. Positron Emission Tomography scanning, or PET/CT scanning, is a vital diagnostic tool in the investigation and treatment planning of most cancer patients. It is a standard of care in all parts of North America, and elsewhere in the world.

In 2016, an independent survey by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) reported that Ontario did the lowest per capita scans per year in all of North America at 0.7 scans per 1000 population, compared to the Canadian average of 2.0 scans. Alberta did as many scans as Ontario in 2015 despite having only one-quarter of the population.

Local oncologists, cancer surgeons and lung physicians have indicated that losing this service will seriously jeopardize the care of many patients with cancer in the local community.

“The risk of losing our only PET imaging resource cannot be underestimated and other jurisdictions in Ontario do not have the capacity for our patients. In order to allow cancer treatment programs to meet the standards of care set out and supported by published guidelines we must have high quality PET imaging available.” – K. M. Schneider, B.Sc., MD., FRCPC. Chief, Department of Oncology

The centre has been certified for cancer scanning by the Provincial Government and has received accolades for its high quality of cancer scanning service despite sparse funding. Increasingly unpredictable equipment breakdowns owing to the lack of sufficient funds to purchase a service contract have led to the current system breakdowns. This has resulted in unpredictable scanning ability.

Appeals to the Minister of Health and the Independent Health Facility program overseeing the budget for PET/CT scanning in the province have been unsuccessful in obtaining sufficient funds to repair the current unit and obtain stable ongoing funding for equipment replacement and service.

Senior technology and physician staff have been working on a volunteer basis to keep the operation going over the past five years since its inaugural scanning in August 2011.

Despite repeated promises of stable and increased funding, and rejection of innovative mobile scanning proposals, the centre is left with the unfortunate and regrettable decision to shut its doors to patient scanning indefinitely.

Patients whose scans have already been requested are being redirected to other centres as far away as Ottawa, but with substantial wait times of up to six weeks. This has resulted in further delaying many patients who had already been waiting over a month for cancer scanning and hence delaying access to lifesaving surgery and /or therapy.

The centre is no longer able to accept bookings for patients because of the current situation. “We are grateful to our patients, our staff, our referring physicians and our community who have been supportive and continue to be supportive of our service over these past five years,” says Dr. Tracey. “We stand ready to work with our community and with the Minister of Health should he choose to assist us at any time in resuming this vital service. “

As news of this service suspension has reached the medical community, reaction has been swift especially from local oncologists and surgeons who are expressing serious concerns about not having access to this essential and sophisticated diagnostic instrument in their arsenal of tools to diagnose and guide the treatment of their cancer patients.

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Assistant Editor