Sudbury hospital now offering specialized treatment for liver, kidney cancer

Dozens ofpatients a year will benefit from a new cancer treatment procedure now availableat the hospital in Sudbury, Ont.

A few months ago, Health Sciences North began offering Radiofrequency Ablation. It'san out-patient, same-day procedure that uses heated electron probes for tumours found insoft tissue like kidney, liver or lungs.

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The heat kills the cancer cells but not the healthy cells nearby.

Specialists use imaging to guide the probe to the tumour so the procedure usually takes place in the CT scan suite.

New specialist hired

Inthe past, patients from the northeast had to travel to Toronto or Barrie for this type of treatment according to Mark Hartman, vice president of cancer services and clinical support programs at the hospital.

He says the patients who would be eligible for this procedure are those where surgery is not the best option for them. "That's typically because they're perhaps elderly and frail, not well, and wouldn't tolerate an anaesthetic," says Hartman.

There were several factors that helped make Radiofrequency Alation more readily available for patients across the northeast.

First, HSN recruited ainterventionalradiologist, DrDeljitDhanoa,in 2015. He specializes in these types of procedures.

Many costs covered

Then, Cancer Care Ontario created guidelines for who would be eligible for this type of cancer treatment.

The agencyis also fundingthe probes for the procedure, along withthe associated staffing costs for Health Sciences North.

It is theprobesthemselveswhich areexpensive, Hartman noted. Each probe canonly be used once and then must be discarded.

"Although it's not a huge volume, those probes cost about $1,500per case, as well as ...the time for the staff to do the procedure," he continued.

"So that adds up and, in the absence of a funding mechanism, that was going to be difficult for us to implement."

Hartman says thegenerator to which the probes are hooked up similartoanultrasoundmachine is provided free of chargeby the company that supplies the probes.

Health Science North has already treated about six patients since thiscancer procedure became available a few months ago.

Hartman says he hopes the hospitalwill be able to provide the Radiofrequency Ablation to more than 100 eligible patients from across northeastern Ontario over the next year.