Donors help us lead the way to treatment excellence
Thanks to the generosity of donors, Saanich Peninsula Hospital & Healthcare Foundation has recently funded several pieces of equipment that will enhance and advance the services available at Saanich Peninsula Hospital (SPH) for breast cancer patients, including breast biopsy equipment, breast cancer removal and reconstruction equipment and a Trident© HD Specimen Radiography System.
Thank you to Carrie Tuck, Clinical Nurse Lead for Surgical Services, and
Laura Brown, Manager of Surgical Services, for sharing exciting developments at SPH.
Q. Can you explain how services for breast cancer patients are changing at Saanich Peninsula Hospital?
A.
There’s been an investment in Women’s Health at SPH. Although there is no mammography capability right now, there are other ways to support performing more breast cancer surgeries. To facilitate these surgeries, we needed the system to ensure that when the surgeon has removed the specimen, they have removed everything that is needed. Typically, the specimen would go to mammography and a radiologist would verify enough tissue had been removed to reduce the risk of having to come back for margin surgery.
Q. How does the new equipment make a difference?
A.
The Trident© HD Specimen Radiography System is an absolutely phenomenal purchase for our site; it will be set up in the Operating Room, the surgeon will place the specimen into the device, it will take a picture of the specimen and it will send it to a radiologist who will be able to determine whether or not we need to take more margins, while the patient is still anesthetized on the table. This is something we’ve not been able to do at SPH before. It is a huge development. Surgeons want the confirmation that they’ve removed enough tissue and have got all the cells required. That alone is absolutely ground-breaking for our site.
Q. The Trident© HD Specimen Radiography System isn’t the only piece of equipment coming to the OR, what else is changing?
A.
Currently breast cancer treatment patients have to go to Victoria General Hospital (VGH) or Royal Jubilee Hospital (RJH) to have an injection and a wire inserted under guidance into the offending tissue. This has to happen within eight hours of their surgery. There’s a lot of extra stress involved with being at a different hospital for a procedure and then having travel to SPH for surgery on the same day.
Mag Seed technology injects a small grain-of-rice sized seed into the offending tissue, instead of the wire. This injection can happen up to 30 days ahead of the surgery date. We will have the technology in our OR for the surgeon to locate the seed, and guide the surgery. Although there’s still a visit to VGH or RJH, it doesn’t need to be the same day as the surgery, and the technology is much less invasive. It’s a cutting-edge technology, way more comfortable for the patient, and it also bumps up our capabilities to do a full slate of surgeries at SPH as we’re not waiting for those first patients to come from an appointment in town.
Q. What do you think the impact will be with these developments?
A.
Within our region there is a varying level of cases, requiring different specificities offered at VGH, RJH and SPH. It is recognised that we need the right patient for the right care at the right site – it’s not a one-size-fitsall situation. What SPH excels at is Day Cases (thanks to the incredible Day Surgery Unit that donorfunding made possible). With this new equipment, the breast surgeries that we will be able to perform – male or female – we know that we can provide patients with excellent care, excellent discharge teaching and send them home in a much quicker period of time.
Funding from the Foundation also supports our hopes to move towards same-day mastectomy and reconstruction surgery. We hope to offer a program that’s a partnership between our General Surgeons and our Plastic Surgeons.
“The community has shown time and again that they have an appetite to support enhanced health care in the community they live in.” Carrie Tuck