Sudbury should use mobile PET scan while waiting for permanent one: Doctor

Dr David Webster says he can give numerous examples of patients in Sudbury who could have benefited from having a positron emission tomography or PET scanner to help with their medical diagnosis.

The technology provides nuclear images to detect cancer and other diseases.

Webster has been trying to get the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to approve the use of a mobile scanner in Sudbury. He says the equipment would be beneficial while the community waits for the special suite at Health Sciences North to bebuilt for the permanent scanner.

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"[A computerized tomography CT scan]has an ability to see a mass and define it. It has zero ability to determine in that mass where there is actually cancer. But I could say 'you need to put the needle right here'. That's what PET does. It directs the biopsy," says Webster.

Dr Kevin Tracey operates the mobile PET scanner in Windsor. He says the machine could be in Sudbury tomorrow if the ministry gave approval.

"There's an opportunity to do something now. The [operating] funds have been pledged but they're really just sitting there not being used. We have the ability to go up and scan and make use of those funds to do scans on Sudbury patients."

Traceysays there are several advantages to the mobile technology:patients don't have to travel outside their home area, hospitals don't have to build a structure for the machine, there are lower costs to the health care system, improved wait times.

However Tracey says he and Dr Webster keep getting stonewalled by the ministry in their efforts to expand the mobile technology to other communities that don't have permanent PET scanners.

"Hospitals in the United States, some of them are operating on mobile technology and when they replace a unit they don't have to build a new building or adjust a building they just put the mobile in there," says Tracey. He adds prestigious medical centres have been using mobile PET scanner for years.

In a statement to CBC News, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care says the proposal was turned down due to several concerns,includingthe higher cost of mobile scans, and the age of the mobile equipment.

Webster says he has documented proof to contradict most issues the Ministry has with the mobile PET scanner.