New MRI-radiation hybrid machine in Alberta expected to improve cancer treatment by at least 20 per cent
Technology in Alberta that is expected to allow doctors to more accurately and effectively treat cancerous tumours with radiation enters clinical trials next week.
This next step, after 15 years of work, was celebrated in Edmonton on Friday as a "game changer" and "true medical breakthrough."
The LMR, or Linac-MR machine, simultaneously delivers radiotherapy and high-resolution imaging – something researchers say was previously considered impossible because the magnetic field and x-rays of the two machines interfere with each other if placed within 10 metres.
But a tumour's position can shift with a patient's movement, as they go between machines, or even by breathing. So doctors need to use radiation more conservatively to avoid hitting healthy tissue or organs near a tumour, which in turn means lower radiation doses and a higher number of treatment sessions.
"Say I know exactly where the tumour is without killing healthy tissue: We can calculate the cure rates will improve by 20 to 40 per cent for all solid tumours," creator Dr. Gino Fallone told reporters.
The medical physicist at the University of Alberta has been working on the idea with researchers from Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute and Alberta Health Services since 2008.
Dr. Nawaid Usmani, who will lead the clinical study, also expects the machine will be able to treat tumours that are difficult to access – like prostate, liver, and pancreatic cancers.
"Over the course of your career, it's very rare to be involved in a true innovation, something that revolutionalizes how treatment is administered and is able to offer new treatments to patients," he commented during the news conference at the Cross Cancer Institute.
"I'm very fortunate to have been involved in this innovation as I've been able to witness right before my eyes this concept become a reality."
'VERY OPTIMISTIC'
Usmani's team is hoping to include 100 patients in the LMR's first year-long trial. Five more phases, each with roughly 100 more participants, will follow.
Marvin Bahry, an 84-year-old prostate cancer patient, will be the first-ever clinical trial participant.
Bahry first had prostate cancer around 12 years ago and told CTV News he has "high hopes" to beat it again.
"I'm very optimistic that all of his research and the hard work of Dr. Usmani and other doctors and nurses and so on, will benefit not only me but all the other people who come here," he said.
"Any good that comes out of it from me will benefit others and that's my little contribution to others in this world…I see nothing but good coming out of all of this."
Jordan Turko, a Cross Cancer Institute fundraiser and cancer survivor, echoed Bahry's thoughts: "When I think about innovations like this, it buys folks like me more time."
In April 2022, at 30 years old, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer his doctor believes developed over a period of just four months. Nine months of targeted radiation and pill therapy later, he says his cancer has "fully retreated."
"For the average person, as time goes on, you get less of it. It goes on, you get a little older. But for cancer patients, it's ironic that within innovations like this, when we get a little more time," Turko said of the LMR.
"So things like this are a really big deal because they buy a little more time. Which hopefully means that another great innovator will buy more time and give us more moments in our life."
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.