Radiation treatment in Windsor among best
The radiation treatment cancer patients receive in Windsor is among the best in the province, according to recent data measuring accuracy and quality at Ontario’s 14 cancer centres.
Officials at the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre are expressing pride over the latest results from Cancer Care Ontario’s Collaborative Quality Assurance Program. A team of experts came to Windsor last year and ran a series of tests which use a cylindrical device in place of a human to measure how accurately — in dosage and location — the radiation arrives at thousands of points within the cylinder.
In Windsor, the radiation was delivered with more than 95 per cent accuracy in three separate tests.
In one test, for an emerging treatment that involves treating very small tumours in the spine with very high doses of radiation, Windsor’s score of 98.2 per cent was best in the province.
For prostate cases, Windsor ranked third, with 99 per cent accuracy, behind only Toronto’s Princess Margaret and the Carlo Fidani Regional Cancer Centre in Peel Region.
In the third test for radiation delivered to the head and neck, Windsor’s accuracy was about 95 per cent, which was around the provincial average.
When it comes to radiation treatment accuracy, a difference of a few millimetres can mean the difference between good and bad outcomes, officials said.
“We are very confident in the accuracy with which we can deliver very complicated radiation treatments,” said Jeff Richer, the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre’s director of radiation oncology.
He said the results should assure the public that the radiation they receive here is as good as anywhere in Ontario, and Ontario’s standards are world renowned.
“So they don’t have to say ‘I have to go to Toronto or London to get this thing because Windsor’s no good at it,’” said Richer. “These results say we’re just as good and in some cases better.”
The results compare what was ordered by the doctor with what was delivered to the patient. When the treatment is very accurate, doctors can be sure the treatment is hitting the target with the right dosage. It also means that normal tissues around the tumour don’t unnecessarily receive damaging high doses.
“That can translate into better local control of cancer and a potential for better survival rates,” said Dr. Ken Schneider, chief of oncology at Windsor Regional Hospital and the head of radiation oncology.
He said radiation is used to try to cure people of their various cancers, and also for symptom control when the patient is palliative. The test results, he said, gives the entire radiation team the reassurance that the patient is receiving the treatment that was intended.
“Believe me, in radiation therapy there are checks and balances,” said Schneider, who listed all the cross-checking that happens among the various medical staff. “And that should be in place in any medical system.”
Schneider said there were probably not enough checks and balances in the system when it came to the chemotherapy underdosing scandal, in which about 1,200 patients, including 290 in Windsor, were given diluted chemo drugs in 2012 and 2013.
Incidents like the underdosing gave everyone in cancer care a heightened awareness, “so we don’t have one of those unfortunate circumstances happen again,” Richer said.
Studies on the use of radiation suggest it should be employed more often, that 50 per cent of cancer patients should receive some form of radiation treatment during the course of their cancer journey. In Windsor, roughly 40 to 42 per cent of cancer patients get radiation. It’s used to treat a variety of cancers including brain, head, neck, throat, tongue, lung, esophageal, bladder, prostate, gynecological and lymphomas.
Windsor’s radiation results have improved consistently since the Collaborative Quality Assurance Program started testing Windsor four years ago, said Richer.
Monica Staley, the vice-president in charge of the Windsor cancer program, said she’s always humbled when she goes to the radiation department and observes the staff — physicists, dosimetrists, nurses and therapists working as a team. The accuracy and quality results, she said, is “reflective of an amazing collaboration.”
“It helps our community to know that here at Windsor Regional Hospital we are delivering excellent radiation care for them, and we’re proud of that.”
They don’t have to say ‘I have to go to Toronto or London to get this thing because Windsor’s no good at it.’ These results say we’re just as good and in some cases better.