Cancer Centre Expansion Nears Completion, New Equipment Ready by Summer

Cancer patients will be able to get better care closer to home when an expansion to the Cape Breton Cancer Centre is complete and new radiation therapy treatment equipment becomes operational.

"The expansion to the Cape Breton Cancer Centre means staff will be able to treat more patients and provide more advanced treatment," said Health Minister Maureen MacDonald. "This will help us reduce wait times and provide better patient care."

The new equipment is a linear accelerator, a machine that precisely targets radiation beams at a cancer patient's tumour. It will be able to perform Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy to be more accurate and cause less damage to surrounding tissue.

Patients who need Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy are experiencing the longest wait times in Nova Scotia because it is only available in Halifax. When the team at the Cape Breton Cancer Centre is fully trained on the new machine, patients will have another option to get this type of care.

"We're committed to delivering patient care closer to home," said Mona Baryluk, director of the cancer centre and palliative care. "To do that, we have to be on top of ever-changing technologies and treatments so we can provide the highest level of care possible for our patients.

"This expansion and the new equipment that is included in it, will allow us to continue to provide safe, quality care to our patients."

Ms. MacDonald toured the cancer centre today, Feb. 22, to view the progress of the expansion. The linear accelerator is expected to arrive in April. Installation and commissioning will take about three months and it is expected to be operational by July.

The Cape Breton Cancer Centre is an $8-million project that has received about $5 million from the Radiation Therapy Wait Time Guarantee project. That project was set up by the province of Nova Scotia and funded by Health Canada.