REGINA - Saskatchewan Cancer Agency has announced it is launching a program that can eliminate the need for cervical cancer patients to travel out of province for radiation treatment.
It is called the Interstitial High-Dose-Rate Gynecological Brachytherapy program. In a news release from the province it is news release as a safe, specialized, targeted form of radiation therapy and it is now available in Saskatchewan.
Radiation Oncologist for SCA Dr. Jocelyn Moore believes this new program will greatly assist health care providers by cutting out a lot of the work they were doing before to find treatment options for patients in other provinces.
“A real element of stress in our jobs was finding centers across the country to send these patients for this aspect of their treatment,” Dr. Moore said in a conference call with reporters.
“You know, it's a lot better, I think, as a physician for us to be putting our energy into the actual treatment instead of into finding somebody else to do the treatment for us.”
This procedure will be available to begin with in Saskatoon for all Saskatchewan patients, and there are plans to expand in to Regina. Medical teams at the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and the Saskatchewan Health Authority will be involved in delivering this program, according to the province.
The first patient under this program was treated in January. According to their news release, the treatment combines standard applicators with strategically placed interstitial needles.
A precise, high-dose radiation treatment is then applied to treat irregular-sized tumours, while reducing radiation exposure to the surrounding healthy tissues.
It is estimated around 65 per cent of cervical cancer patients could benefit from this program. Typically, a patient would receive four treatments per year.
“So a cervix cancer, you treat it with about five weeks of external beam radiation and chemo. And then at the end is when you do the brachytherapy,” Dr. Moore said.
“So a lot of our patients, and our estimate is about 20 per year, will benefit from this and they each have four. So it's about 80 procedures a year that we would be doing.”
Prior to the introduction of this treatment option, the experience for women receiving cervical cancer treatment was that the bulk of their treatment would be done here, but then they would have to go to Vancouver or Kelowna or Toronto for the brachytherapy.
“So what it looks like is when I met a patient in clinic and saw the pictures of their cancer and, you know, did their physical exam, and then it was obvious that they would benefit from an interstitial component of their treatment,” Moore said. “Immediately, the radiation oncologist starts to phone across the country to find a centre that can accommodate these patients in their operating room. You know, everybody is overcapacity at the moment. And so sometimes it would be our fourth or fifth try before somebody was able to take the patients for us. So it's a lot of coordination between two centres.”
Moore believes the arrival of this program will greatly improve cancer care in the province, and also help in physician recruitment and retention.
"Providing Saskatchewan cancer patients with world-class care and cutting-edge treatment options close to home remains a top priority for our government," Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said in a statement.
"We are dedicated to driving healthcare innovation that enhances patient outcomes and improves quality of life for all residents."
According to the province, the program will roll out in three phases. The first phase will focus on introduction of hybrid therapy, while future phases will involve the introduction of different applicators to expand treatment options to treat vaginal cancers, vaginally recurrent uterine cancers, and locally advanced cervical cancers.
