Today's Family Medicine News Highlights
July 21, 2017
See mention of CFPC President Dr. David White in the Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail
Ontario to kick off consultations on making pharmaceutical companies’ payments to doctors public, advocates call for transparency at national level
CBC News
Methadone prescriptions for Quebec’s seniors skyrocket in past five years
Advocate urges Nova Scotia government to open supervised injection sites to tackle opioid crisis
Federal government boosts funding for Canada’s National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg
Edmonton Journal
Alberta government takes positive steps towards improving mental health
Medical Post
Sunnybrook installs innovative investigational MRI system
WRITTEN BY SIMON HALLY ON JULY 19, 2017 FOR CANADIANHEALTHCARENETWORK.CA
TORONTO | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre has begun installing an MR-linac investigational magnetic resonance radiation therapy (MR/RT) system at the Odette Cancer Centre Centre in Toronto.
The MR-linac is provided by the Swedish company Elekta, which specializes in radiotherapy, radiosurgery and related equipment and clinical management for the treatment of cancer and brain disorders. Elekta partners with Philips on MRI technology.
The system is described as the only MR/RT system that integrates a premium (1.5 Tesla) MR scanner with an advanced linear accelerator and intelligent software.
It’s expected to deliver precisely targeted radiation doses while capturing high-quality MR images, which will allow clinicians to visualize tumours at any time and adapt treatment accordingly.
“This new equipment will allow us to better understand tumour response during treatment and give us a way of looking at the tumour that was not possible before,” says Dr. Gregory Czarnota, head of radiation oncology at the Odette Cancer Centre.
Sunnybrook is the only Canadian member of Elekta’s MR-linac Consortium and the lead consortium site for developing applications of the MR-linac in the treatment of glioblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumour in adults.
The seven-member consortium is a global collaboration of institutions focused on uniting leaders in radiation oncology, MR imaging, physics and radiotherapy. Its mission is to investigate how MR-linac technology can lead to improved patient outcomes for existing radiation therapy indications and extend radiation therapy for additional indications.
A team led by Dr. Arjun Sahgal, head of Odette’s Cancer Ablation Therapy Program, has developed a protocol to evaluate advanced imaging for primary cancers of the brain.
Dr. Sahgal and his team have designed a clinical trial that will explore using the technology to adapt the radiation dose delivered to primary brain tumors on a daily basis. Patient treatments are expected to begin once the device is approved by Health Canada.
“Real-time understanding of tumor response will help us adjust treatment, focus radiation on tumours with pinpoint precision, and spare healthy tissue from radiation,” says Dr. Sahgal.
Elekta introduced the MR-linac technology under the name Unity during the ESTRO congress in Vienna in April 2017.
Le Devoir
Projet expérimental en santé mental pour éviter l’itinérance à Québec
Le Journal de Montréal
Accord de principe intervenu entre les paramédicaux et Urgences-santé
Barrette débouté devant les tribunaux : 24 mois d’indemnités possibles pour les cadres mis à pied
Ici Radio-Canada
Nouvelle-Écosse : Les pharmacies disposeront de naloxone gratuite
Création d’un centre de recherche en oncologie pédiatrique à Sainte-Justine