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Submitted photos

THE same cancerous area In a lung is shown with a PET scan
(inset top) and routine testing (Inset bottom). A cancer area in a
breast is clearly evident in a PET scan (background photo).

Conserv

From page |

said,

West Vancouver Police Staff Sgt.
Barry Nickerson said the police
responded to the call soon after
feceiving it,

The responding afticer did not
find any obvious signs of a cougar,
said Nickerson, But he agreed that
the officer should have told the
complainants he had been in the
area and looked for the mountain
lion.

“People need closure,” he said,
“That's part of our normal process.”

In Surrey, conservation officer
Bob Butcher said conservation offi-

ers usually respond only if they talk
‘o the person who sees the animal,

-In Thursday's case, the com-

Splainant came from the neighbor, a
kecond-hand source.

He added the office gets a lot of
alse repurts so it’s important to
Hletermine’ their authenticity.

_ ‘It’s a long way to go if it
hmounts to nothing,” he said.
“If its: around, people will see
it,” he added.
|; Butcher said that although the
onservation office received the call

hursday morning, he was the first
Fonservation officer to see the com-
blaint. And he didn’t see it until he
rrived at the office in the afternoon.

Three field-level conservation

fficers plus a “problem” wildlite officer, who uses
ounds to track wildlife, man the Surrey conser-

mation office.

But the problem officer and a conservation

cer are now on vacation. A third officer was
M@ettending a bear call Thursday morning and
Butcher said he was looking atter other business.
“This office is shorthanded at the best of

glews picks

Sunday, Auguat 10, 1997 - Narth Shora News - 3

LGH pioneers breast
cancer treatment

First in Canada to use PET scans to monitor tumors

By Anna Marie D'Angelo

News Reporter
dangelo@usnews.cam

LIONS Gate will be the first hospital in
Canada to perform state-of-the: art PET
scans to monitor breast cancer tumors.

“Par almost ecstatic, We think certalalye on a basic
research level, this is a real first for Lions Gate Hospital
(LGH,)” said Or. Philip Cohen, head of Nuclear
Medicine,

Cohen said that in the late fall 80 North Shore
women diagnosed with relatively large breast tumors will
have their illnesses monitored using PET (Positron
Emission Tomography) scans during a research project,

Lions Gate Foundation, the fundraising arm of the
hospital which raises $2 million a year, has committed to
provide the $275,000 necessary to upgrade one of the
nuclear medicine's cameras so that it can also do PET
scans,

A dedicated PET scanner costs approximately $2 mil-
lion, PET seans pick up the glucose use of cells in the
body, Cancer cells tend to use more glucose than normal
cells.

Other procedures such as CT (Computed
Tomography) and MRE (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
look for cancer by examining organ structure and the
differences in tissue between such substances as fat and
fluid.

LGH’s PET upgrade will take place at the end of this
month. The hospital is the first in Canada to have an
inexpensive PET system,

The three dedicated PET systems in Canada, includ-

-

ing the one at UBC, are being used for neuro research.

eA

: NEWS photo Paul McGrath
FORMER West Van Coun. Andy Danyliu and his son Adrian, 6, say the response of authorities to

a cougar spotted on the path behind them wesn't up to scratch.

times,” he said.

FOR the second time this year,
the North Shore News has
been recognized for overall
excellence in a major competi-
tion of community newspa-
pers.

The News recently finished in the

Danyliu said that if the conservation office
can’t provide the necessary service, the local
police force, which is responsible for the safety
and protection of citizens, should be trained and
equipped to deal with animal compiaints.

_ Nickerson, however, does not agree that in
times of budget cuts the West Vancouver Police

should take on the responsibility of apprehending

four-legged varmints.

cougar lurks nearby.

top three of the Canadian Community

Newspapers Association’s General tion.

stressed

Conservation officers have the training, track-
ing dogs and equipment necessary to do the job-
and they are usually reliable, said Nickerson.

Butcher said a healthy cougar will avoid peo-
ple, but “house cats are in severe danger” when a

(BCYCNA) 1997 newspaper competi-

PET upgrade equipment is new technology,

“We are starting to see enough evidence that these
systems, If not replicating the $2 million systems, will
cpproach thea, Et still will he an inferior system, but we
think it will be marginally inferior,” sald Cohen,

LGH will also use the PET upyrade for a research
project with UBC scientists aimed at improving the sys-
teny’s design.

The California company that manufactures the
upgrade equipment, Adac Labs, is giving LGH $70,000
for the research projects.

Cohen stressed that PET seans are being done on a
research basis only,

And he said that PET seans for cancer will not likely
replace mammography as a way to pick up the first sign
of breast cancer,

He said a PET sean cannot detect tiny timors that are
revealed through mammography, But PET scans maybe
better at determining the effectiveness of cancer treat-
ments,

Cohen said the need to do exploratory surgery or
remove lymph nodes after breast cancer treatment may
be diminished through PEE scan results,

The only cancer that is not easily detected by PET
scans is prostate tumors, said Cohen.

PET seans are not covered by the B.C, medical plan
and are not available for routine testing. The current cost
ofa PET scan ranges between $600 to $2,300 U.S.

A PET sean takes an hour to perform, Patients are
given radioactive sugar one hour before the sean,

One hundred women are diagnosed with breast can-
cer cach year on the North Shore,

Cohen said the ultimate goal is to make PET scans
available for coutine patients. .

The Lions Gate Foundation welcomes donations,

rene mnie: ta

Patients
to pay
increase
in fees

Fram page ¥

The move will increase pay->
ments to physiotherapists by as
much as 60%, but Macfarlane
said it's well deserved,

“We haven't had a raise in five
years,” she said. “The (physio-
therapists in) other provinces are
just laughing at us getting $15.”

Ministry of Health spokesper-
son Wynn Horn said the move
makes no difference to the min-
istry. MSP will continue to pay:
the same 35,14 portion.

“ft’s inconvenient for. the
patient and they'll have to ask
what the prices are because they
won't be set,” said Horn.

Macfarlane said colleagues
opting, our of MSP will likely
start operating outside of the sys-

- tem by the end of September.

Although her clients will be
faced with having to pay between
$5 and SLO more for each visit,
Macfarlane doesn’t anticipate a
long-term drop in business,

“We expect our numbers to
drop as they did when user fees
first came in (in 1987),” said
Macfarlane. “People get used to
seeing one physio and at first
people concerned about moncy
may go to the other clinics (that
are not opting out of MSP), but
over time they'll come back.”

She added the fees will also be
flexible, with some poorer clients

Excellence competition for newspapers
with circulations of 25,000 and over.
The top three finish in the CCNA’s
1997 better newspapers comperition
follows the News’ top three finish in
the British Columbia and Yukon
Community Newspapers Association’s

in the CCNA competition, which
judges newspaper entries from across
Canada, the News finished third overall
behind the Orleans Community Weebly
Journal from Ontario, which took sec-
ond place, and the Prince George Free
Pres, which finished first overall.

receiving a break.

“We're not heartless,” she
added. North Shore physiothera-
pists opting out of MSP join 25
others in Burnaby who have
opted out. More than 2,000
physiotherapists practice in B.C,