OICR collaborators selected to test world-leading imaging technology
FROM LEFT: Dr. John Valliant, Scientific Director and CEO, CPDC; Murray T. Martin, President and CEO, Hamilton Health Sciences; Dr. Peter George, President of McMaster University; Peter Robertson, General Manager, GE HealthCare Canada; Dr. Tom Hudson, President and Scientific Director, OICR
(CPimages/S. Wilson)
Hamilton scientists will be the first in the world to test a new technology that might diagnose cancer more accurately.
A novel technology that uses molecular imaging to image breast cancer developed by GE Healthcare will be installed at Juravinski Cancer Centre in the coming months. Researchers in Hamilton will design and lead clinical trials, which are the first step toward introducing it into mainstream practice. They will begin testing the new technology within a year.
New molecular imaging technologies could help doctors detect tiny tumours that would not show up using current cancer screening technologies. Detecting small tumours is important because cancer is often easier to treat when detected in its earliest stages.
Tom Hudson, President and Scientific Director of OICR, joined members of Hamilton’s research community and officials from GE Healthcare Canada at an event on January 23 to announce that Hamilton was chosen as the first site in the world to receive the new technology for testing in clinical trials,
“Our goal is for cancer to be diagnosed at the earliest stage. These technologies may have a significant impact on care for high-risk patients whose tiny tumours cannot be seen by conventional imaging technologies,” Hudson said. “We hope this will lead to earlier detection, better treatment and ultimately, save lives."
Peter Robertson, General Manager of GE Healthcare Canada, is also enthusiastic about using molecular imaging technologies in a clinical setting.
“These technologies allow us to see the development of the disease process, and to see it at earlier stages and in places we couldn’t see before,” he said. “We’re excited about this approach because it moves us away from late disease management, and toward what we like to call early health. And I think early health links beautifully with OICR’s vision for diagnosing cancer earlier.”
During the presentation to announce the new technologies, Robertson compared images produced using molecular imaging with slides produced using digital mammography. Displaying the slides side-by-side on an overhead projector, Robertson could easily point out greater detail in the molecular images than those produced using mammography. For doctors, the level of detail in an image is critical. In the slides Robertson displayed, it would be possible to spot a small tumour in the images produced with molecular imaging technologies – but not with the one produced with digital mammography, the technology most commonly used in current practice.
The molecular imaging trials at Juravinski Cancer Centre will be geared toward high-risk women who are not well-served by mammography. According to the Mayo clinic, when localized breast cancer is caught at an early stage, the survival rate is 98 per cent. However, the survival rate is much lower if cancer is caught later. This makes identifying breast tumours earlier a very high priority in the fight against cancer.
GE Healthcare chose Hamilton because of strong partnerships among researchers at OICR, the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization and the Oncology and Nuclear Medicine programs at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences. Robertson says his company was impressed by the calibre of research talent in Hamilton, as well the ability of researchers and doctors in the city to come together and form research partnerships.
“We’ve been very impressed by all the scientists and doctors we’ve had the opportunity to work with on this project,” he said. “We couldn’t find a more capable team to work with. The talent in Hamilton is really becoming an intersecting point for medical research in Ontario.”
For example, one of the key partners in the consortium is the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC), led by Dr. John Valliant. The CPDC is one of few centres in the world devoted to developing and testing medical imaging probes. (Probes are isotopes that are ingested by or injected into patients; medical images are produced when imaging equipment detects the probe within the body.)
At the announcement event, Valliant explained that Hamilton is the perfect place for the Centre to do its work: isotopes are produced at McMaster’s nuclear reactor; research scientists at McMaster develop them into probes; and the city’s large teaching hospitals have the expertise to test probes in clinical trials.
Charles Juravinski, a local businessperson and benefactor of the Juravinski Cancer Centre, says the new technology provides hope for people at risk of developing cancer, and also a big boost for the community.
“From what I understand, this is a breakthrough that could benefit the whole world, involving top research scientists. And what better way to put the Juravinski Cancer Centre, and Hamilton, on the map, than a breakthrough!” he said. “And it’s even more important to consider the tumours that wouldn’t have been discovered with conventional technology. Some of these will be discovered now, saving … how many lives? Many. Millions, maybe.”
