Cancer treatment expands

Kathy Skretting welcomes the news that the Lethbridge Cancer Centre will soon be able to give radiation treatments.

When the 30-year-old Lethbridge resident was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2007, she had to travel to Calgary for four weeks of radiation.
 
“The weeks were pretty long seeing I was only radiated 15 minutes a day and the rest of the day was alone with no transportation,” she says.

“Travelling was tiring, there were expenses and although talking on the phone or Internet to family was my favourite part, it wasn’t the same as having them right beside me.”
 
Later this spring, patients like Skretting can stay closer to home, family and friends while receiving radiation. Many cancer patients previously had to travel to Calgary or Edmonton for radiation therapy.

The Lethbridge Cancer Centre will provide radiation treatments for a number of different cancers[em dash]including lung, breast, prostate and gastrointestinal. The centre will also provide pain management for palliative care patients. 

The $44-million capital construction project, which is part of the Chinook Regional Hospital, includes 2,000 square metres of renovated space and 380 square metres of new space. 

In the past, many patients have opted out of radiation treatments altogether because they can’t afford to travel or otherwise are unable to leave their home communities, says Brenda Hubley, the project liaison for the Radiation Treatment Corridor Project.

“A course of radiation treatment can go anywhere from one single treatment to six weeks of treatment, Monday to Friday,” she says.

Some patients have chosen a less-than-ideal course of treatment to avoid travel. Hubley says a woman with breast cancer might choose a mastectomy without radiation over a lumpectomy with breast-conserving therapy, followed by radiation. 

Others don’t use radiation to reduce pain simply because the treatment facilities are far from home.

“Having the treatment capability close to home will allow these patients to choose treatment that will relieve a lot of unnecessary pain,” Hubley says.

About 800 courses of radiation therapy will be delivered in Lethbridge each year using the new equipment, which includes two linear accelerators (radiation machines) and a computerized axial tomography (CT) simulator (which identifies the exact location and size of the area that needs to be treated).

“On average, each of the linear accelerators can treat about 30 patients a day in a regular work day. But we’re not expecting to be treating to full capacity when we open,” says Hubley. “We will be opening in the spring with one machine and we will be bringing the second machine online in the fall.”

The centre is expected to improve wait times for cancer treatment across the province.  

“It will provide surge capacity in the system,” says Hubley. “We can reassign and move patients across the province where capacity exists if there is an issue of patients waiting too long.”

Skettring, who has been cancer-free for three years, says being able to receive radiation treatment in Lethbridge will have a huge positive impact on many local cancer patients. 

“As the saying goes: ‘There’s no place like home,’ ” she says.