Caption:  Bruce Power will donate $95,000 in funding over the next three years to study the future of stereotactic radiosurgery, which focuses on saving lives and improving patient outcomes by destroying tumours without surgery. From left are Bruce Power’s Jenny Boyadjian, Isotope Expansion Manager, and Peter McDermid, Director, Isotope Business Development; Dr. Arjun Sahgal, Chief, Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; and Pat Dalzell, Bruce Power’s Vice-President, Corporate Affairs and Market Development. (Photo by Kevin Van Paassen/Sunnybrook)Caption: Bruce Power will donate $95,000 in funding over the next three years to study the future of stereotactic radiosurgery, which focuses on saving lives and improving patient outcomes by destroying tumours without surgery. From left are Bruce Power’s Jenny Boyadjian, Isotope Expansion Manager, and Peter McDermid, Director, Isotope Business Development; Dr. Arjun Sahgal, Chief, Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; and Pat Dalzell, Bruce Power’s Vice-President, Corporate Affairs and Market Development. (Photo by Kevin Van Paassen/Sunnybrook)
Midwestern

Bruce Power partners on potentially life-saving clinical trial

Bruce Power has announced a partnership with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to support a potentially life-saving clinical trial using medical-grade cobalt-60 for stereotactic radiosurgery.

Over the next three years, Bruce Power will provide $95,000 in funding to Sunnybrook’s Cancer Adaptive Ablation Therapy Program. The program aims to advance cancer treatment by using cobalt-60 to destroy tumours with precision, avoiding the need for surgery

“Bruce Power has been a world leader in the production of medical isotopes and we are proud to fund this initiative through Sunnybrook Foundation,” said James Scongack, Bruce Power’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice-President. “Cobalt-60 is critical in the global health-care system for non-invasive cancer treatments and has been used for decades to help patients through radiation oncology and nuclear medicine. Through this study, we are proud to support the future of nuclear medicine and the brilliant research of the dedicated physicists, radiation therapists and medical professionals at Sunnybrook who are providing the foundation to advance cancer treatments and procedures to help save lives.”

The clinical trial will run through 2027 and focus on treating 57 patients with brain metastases using a combination of X-ray radiation and cobalt-60 delivered through a Gamma Knife. The research, led by Dr. Arjun Sahgal of Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Program, will explore how to maximize the biological power of these radiation therapies.

“This trial is innovative by taking advantage of the biologic power of both X-ray-based radiation delivery, with a linear accelerator, and cobalt-60 radiation, with a Gamma Knife, for the hardest to treat brain cancers,” said Dr. Sahgal. “We are grateful for this partnership as it promotes innovative use and approaches to using medical isotopes, which are instrumental in delivering the best health care possible to our patients.”

Bruce Power has been producing cobalt-60 for over 35 years, supporting both cancer treatments and the sterilization of medical devices. The company said this initiative marks another step in its ongoing commitment to advancing global health care.

Cobalt-60 isotopes were used for the first time in Canada to treat cancer in October 1951 in London, Ontario.

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