A powerhouse combination

In a Canadian first, St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) and Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson), in partnership with GE HealthCare, will become a centre of excellence in personalized treatment of cancer and other diseases by advancing the powerful blend of precision diagnostic imaging and targeted therapy.

This rapidly emerging field of medicine is called molecular imaging and theranostics (MIT). Molecular imaging provides detailed imaging at the molecular level, and theranostics is a term that combines the words therapeutics and diagnostics. Together, MIT is a two-pronged approach to diagnostics and treatment, bringing together imaging and radiotracers that can identify the location and extent of diseased tissues and selectively destroy the abnormal cells while leaving surrounding healthy cells undamaged.  

“The centre will confirm St. Joseph’s – and the wider London medical and scientific community – as national and international leaders in advancing MIT in the diagnosis of disease, for instance in the identification of cancer and its sub-types, to allow more treatment options for patients,” says Dr. Narinder Paul, Lawson scientist, Chief, Medical Imaging at St. Joseph’s and Physician Executive, Medical Imaging at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). “It will also allow for an expansion of scientific collaborations, increased numbers of scientific and medical learners, and access to the latest software to acquire and integrate imaging science with other patient information.”

As part of the GE HealthCare collaboration, St. Joseph’s has become the first hospital in Canada to install the latest generation, state-of-the-art PET-CT from GE, which was delivered to St. Joseph’s Hospital in August. The new PET-CT will mean faster exams, better patient experience, more detailed images and increased accuracy in diagnosing disease at a lower dose of radiation for patients. It will also expand clinical care at St. Joseph’s by significantly enhancing research through the Imaging Research Group at Lawson, working together with researchers at LHSC, the London Regional Cancer Program and Western University.

“We will leverage the combined scientific expertise and innovation of scientists from GE HealthCare and Lawson to maximize the future opportunities of molecular imaging theranostics made possible through PET- CT imaging and be leaders in Canada in this area of medical science,” says David Hill, Lawson’s Scientific Director.  

For patients seen in London, the benefits will include expanded use of PET-CT, the ability to extract more information from their diagnostic images more rapidly and with less radiation exposure compared to current procedures, greater diagnostic and treatment accuracy, and new options for treatment, particularly for cancers that are more difficult to treat.   

“A personalized approach to medical care requires a very detailed understanding of the localization of disease and potential response to different treatment options,” says Dr. Paul. “We will be able to offer patients across our region access to the latest therapeutic options based on a deeper understanding of the nature of their individual disease conditions gained through next generation medical imaging.”

At its core, theranostics is about treating each patient as an individual, “recognizing that the same treatment plan doesn’t work for everyone – with the goal of providing more efficient and effective medical care,” adds Mike Hamilton, President, GE HealthCare Canada. “This collaboration aims to advance this practice for the benefit of clinicians and patients around the world.”

St. Joseph’s and Lawson have invested in critical MIT infrastructure for more than two decades with an on-site cyclotron at St. Joseph’s

Hospital that produces radioisotopes, a radiochemistry laboratory, scientists to make the clinical grade reagents, Canada’s first PET-CT (2002), Canada’s first whole body PET-MRI (2012), and now, Canada’s first next-generation PET-CT from GE HealthCare, says Ting-Yim Lee, Lawson’s Director of PET/CT Research and medical physicist at St. Joseph’s Hospital. There are also clinical trials research teams and state-of-the-art PET-CT cameras across London’s hospitals and Western, dedicated facilities at Western to develop new probes used to detect and diagnose disease, and the London Regional Cancer Program at LHSC.  

“This makes the city the obvious location to maximize the development of this exciting new science for the benefit of patients,” says Ting-Yim. “London has an established record of working in partnership with global companies in the field of medical imaging and have together generated many discoveries that are now made available as best patient care.”

The new PET-CT at St. Joseph’s was made possible in part through the generosity of donors to St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation, which contributed $1 million to the state-of-the-art machine.

What patients can expect

As a dedicated centre of excellence in molecular imaging and theranostics, St. Joseph’s Health Care London will…

• Advance innovation and expand the science in precision imaging of disease, and broaden the potential of PET-CT imaging
• Develop new treatment options for patients with cancer and other diseases
• Maximize opportunities of digital health technologies, expand access for patients across Canada and improve their treatment journeys  
• Create a knowledge dissemination hub for Canada to educate and train others in the use of advanced imaging technologies and improve the health care system for all Canadians