By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
In a significant medical advancement, the CHUS Research Center (CRCHUS) in Estrie has developed an innovative imaging test for prostate cancer, using the groundbreaking radiotracer 68Ga-PSMA-617. This test, which has already benefited over 600 men, offers unprecedented precision in cancer detection and marks the CRCHUS as the first in Canada to produce the radiotracer gallium-68 on a large scale. The achievement, recognized for its impact and innovation in the 2023-2024 Excellence Awards of the CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS, symbolizes a major stride in bridging laboratory research with clinical practice, greatly enhancing the quality of prostate cancer care.
“It’s a new imaging technology,” Dr. Éric Turcotte, nuclear medicine specialist and researcher-professor at the CRCHUS, explained. The CRCHUS has a more than 23-year history with PET scanners. “We’ve played with that technology since 1998.” It is used for research but also clinically to detect cancer “many times per day”.
Good imaging technology has existed for prostate cancer for a while, Turcotte went on, but not excellent imaging technology. The new technology they have invented is a game changer, he insisted. PET scanners use x-rays to generate three dimensional images of the body. In addition, radioactive liquid, what Turcotte urges us to think of as “lights”, are injected into the bloodstream. These special “lights” seek out prostate cancer cells and “stick” to them. Thus, exactly where the cancer is in the body shows up on the image.
The CRCHUS has effectively invented a new kind of “light”, and has been using it for around a year. “Research is always trial and error,” Turcotte continued, and their institution is not the only one that has been on the lookout for the best way to image prostate cancer. The new tracer allows for a far greater capacity of daily clients. Elsewhere, the average clinic can test two to three patients a day, but this new technology allows for the testing of at least 12 patients a day. “Someone who needs to access this exam will have it on time.”
Turcotte emphasized that many men are afflicted with prostate cancer and that two new scanners had to be installed, as well as modifications made to the layout of the clinic, to keep up with the new possibilities of rapid testing. The whole process has been in development for three years. Many people were involved, from the ground up to the director general of the hospital. “It is very majestic, what the hospital did.” So great is their current capacity that they can now serve patients from as far away as Montreal and Halifax.
Turcotte would like to see the use of the technology expand to other parts of Canada.
Turcotte insisted that he is merely the “tip of the iceberg” of the massive, award-winning team that worked together to make this happen.