Advanced diagnostic imaging is now closer to home for many Simcoe-Muskoka patients with the official opening of the region’s first PET/CT scanner at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) on Friday.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones, who is also Ontario's deputy premier, joined Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP Doug Downey, who is also attorney general, along with other officials, patients and RVH staff for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Barrie on Feb. 16.
PET/CT is a non-invasive procedure that uses a dual imaging system, combining diagnostic functionality (PET) with the anatomical assessment of organs (CT).
The sensitive, advanced technology uses molecular imaging to detect certain cancers, such as lung, breast and colon.
The PET/CT scan is interpreted by radiologists to describe to oncologists exactly where the cancer is located, as cancer cells absorb the small amount of radioactive compound injected into the patient.
“Imaging allows us to see inside a patient. Without it, physicians would be working in the dark,” said Dr. Raj Grover, RVH's director of medical imaging.
Grover described the PET/CT as a tool which helps physicians make faster, more accurate diagnoses, and can be used to assess the effectiveness of cancer treatments.
"This is a game changer for a few reasons,” Grover told BarrieToday on the sidelines of the event. “First of all, it attracts highly trained physicians to our community, and that talent is here to serve the community.
“And as a piece of technology, it allows us to do the highest level of imaging — the type of imaging that people would have to previously drive to Toronto for — so we expect thousands of patients every year to be able to stay in Simcoe County and have their care right here at RVH,” he added.
Port Sydney resident Stuart Wallace, 70, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2023.
For his treatment, he had to repeatedly travel south to Mississauga. That also meant paying for hotel lodging, making for an expensive endeavour, one which was nerve-wracking as well.
“It means everything to me,” Wallace told BarrieToday about having this type of advanced technology closer to home.
“More importantly, it means everything to the people of Parry Sound and Muskoka. No more of this travelling nonsense," he said. "RVH is such a wonderful hospital."
Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) funded the $2.7-million operational cost of the PET/CT scanner, while a $1-million investment from the provincial government allowed RVH to renovate an already designated space within the hospital to house the new machine.
The PET/CT purchase was also assisted by several generous donors, in particular Barrie Welding and Machine, Western Mechanical Electrical Millwright Services, and Dr. Paul Voorheis, a longtime RVH radiologist, former imaging medical director and interim chief of staff, and his wife Jane.
Through the Keep Life Wild campaign, the RVH Foundation continues to raise money to expand the hospital's life-saving regional programs like cancer, cardiac, and trauma while helping to expand the current campus in Barrie and build a new health-care facility in Innisfil, which will be known as the south campus.
