RVH to host first portable radiation facility

Cancer care closer to home is one step closer to reality following a 'construction celebration' of Canada's very first portable radiation facility at Royal Victoria Hospital.

The mobile unit will offer lifesaving radiation therapy to cancer patients throughout Simcoe- Muskoka early in the new year - a full three years before the Simcoe-Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre opens.

"Ontarians deserve the very best care we can deliver, close to home," said Premier McGuinty. "Expanding the Royal Victoria Hospital and supporting its new portable radiation unit will ensure that Barrie-area families have a place to turn to - not just this year, but for years to come."

It's projected the single radiation facility will treat almost 400 area cancer patients annually. Currently almost 2,000 cancer patients across this region must travel to cancer centres in Toronto for their lifesaving radiation therapy every year. For the typical patient, that's 35 difficult trips, and if traveling from Barrie, translates to over 6,300 hours of travel time and over 7,000 kilometers - often during treacherous weather conditions.

"Traveling for treatment, when you are frightened and unwell, is extremely difficult. It can be both an emotional and financial burden, which can have a detrimental impact on a patient's outcome. In fact, some patients can't face that onerous journey and, tragically, choose to forgo the potentially life-saving treatment altogether," says RVH CEO Janice Skot. "This portable radiation facility at RVH will have a positive and immediate impact on cancer patients and their families. It's one more step in developing a comprehensive, regional cancer program."

Using an innovative modular design, rather than traditional concrete radiation shielding, the facility can be built in less than a week, and following rigorous testing, begin treating cancer patients early in 2008. The unit - which will be the only radiation facility between Toronto and Sudbury - will continue to treat patients at RVH until the new Simcoe- Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre is open in 2010/11.

"The portable radiation unit is an innovative solution to provide hundreds of Barrie-area patients with access to high quality, timely radiation therapy close to home," said Terrence Sullivan, PhD, CEO of Cancer Care Ontario. "The addition of this unit will also give the province greater capacity to continue reducing wait times while the Simcoe-Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre is being built."

By partnering with Cancer Care Ontario and the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook, RVH can ensure a high quality and coordinated treatment system. Once the new, portable unit opens, Sunnybrook radiation program staff will be delivering radiation treatment services. Over the past eight months, Sunnybrook radiation oncologists have been attending a multidisciplinary breast clinic based at RVH and participating by videoconference in regular "case conferences" where the care of patients with more complex breast cancer is discussed by all specialists from across the region.

The early addition of the mobile radiation facility at RVH will allow the hospital to recruit full time radiation therapists, nuclear medicine physicists, and radiation oncologists in advance of the opening of the Simcoe- Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre. In its first year of operation alone, the centre will log over 60,000 patient visits. Construction on the cancer centre - part of a significant hospital expansion project, which also includes 101 additional inpatient beds - will begin in 2008.

Once the Simcoe- Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre opens, the portable radiation facility could be moved to another location in Ontario. Although the temporary facility is a first for Canada, the breakthrough technology is being used, with great success, in the United States and the United Kingdom.