Media Releases
State of the art cancer scanner opened at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
The Commonwealth's commitment to cancer care services for West Australians has been demonstrated with the official opening today of the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) facility at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth.
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less in this section3 August 2003
State of the art cancer scanner opened at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
The Commonwealth's commitment to cancer care services for West Australians has been demonstrated with the official opening today of the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) facility at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth.
The Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, attended the official opening.
The Federal Government has contributed more than $4 million towards the PET facility. The Commonwealth provided almost $4 million in capital funding and another $400,000 in Medicare funding to ensure the scans are performed at no cost to the patient.
Senator Patterson said: "This funding was used for the purchase of a state-of-the-art PET scanner and importantly a cyclotron for the production of radioisotopes used in PET.
"The establishment of a cyclotron here is a significant step forward in reducing Western Australia's reliance on interstate sources for radioisotope supply. This will greatly enhance the overall efficiency of this PET facility.
"Since it started providing PET services in November 2002 more than 400 Medicare-eligible patients have used the PET scanning facilities at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
"Prior to the introduction of the new arrangements for PET, these patients would have had to travel to Adelaide, Sydney or Melbourne to undertake their scan."
Senator Patterson said PET was a very promising technology used to diagnose various kinds of cancer and monitor cancer therapies.
Some of the most common PET applications in Australia include staging and evaluating lung cancer, lymphoma, melanoma and colorectal carcinoma.
The WA PET facility is the result of the Commonwealth Review of PET in 1999-2000. Seven PET facilities have been funded throughout Australia and they will be subject to an evaluation in 2005 to judge their effectiveness.
Senator Patterson said: "The Federal Government is confident that the PET facility at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital will make a significant contribution to this evaluation program.
"In the meantime, I am sure that those who use this scanner - both patients and staff - will appreciate the versatility and advantages that this technology offers."
Media inquiries: Randal Markey, Media Adviser, Senator Patterson's office, 02 6277 7220.
