A new service at Sunshine Coast University Hospital is expected to provide locals with earlier detection of cancer.
In a first for regional Queensland public hospitals, SCUH has access to a Gallium-68 generator, to perform Ga-68 PSMA and Ga-68 DOTATATE Positron Emission Tomography (PET) examinations.Dr John Blazak, Clinical Director Nuclear Medicine, said Ga-68 PSMA was a radioactive tracer used to detect prostate and other cancers sooner, allowing patients to access treatment sooner.
“Before this technology, our patients had to travel to Brisbane for these studies where there is a wait list of around six to eight weeks, or have them done at their own expense in a private radiology practice,” he said.“Having a Gallium-68 service on site at Sunshine Coast University Hospital means less travel for these potentially sick patients and a reduced wait time for these vital scans, leading to earlier treatment.”
He said the service could be used to stage prostate malignancy before treatment and to detect recurrent disease after treatment.“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Australian men and increases in likelihood with age,” he said.“PSMA PET has been shown to be more sensitive in detecting metastatic disease in prostate cancer when compared with conventional imaging.“(Meanwhile) Ga-68 DOTATATE is primarily used to detect the location of neuroendocrine neoplasms, often difficult to see with conventional imaging techniques such as CT and MRI.”
SUBSCRIBE here now for our FREE news feed, direct to your inbox dailySunshine Coast nurse Pamela Uebergang has already benefited from the service.She was gardening in 2019, when she began to suffer severe pain on the right side of her body, which left her unable to walk.
She was subsequently diagnosed with a Neuroendocrine tumour and started treatment in Brisbane.
She was the first patient to undergo a gallium-68 PET scan at SCUH and has been able to continue her treatment locally ever since.“It’s made a huge amount of difference to me to be able to be treated at SCUH,” she said.
“I’m allergic to petrol and diesel fumes, so trips to Brisbane would often make me quite sick.
“It also saves me and my family a lot of time driving to and from appointments.”
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