No one wants to talk about cancer. It’s scary, but it’s also pervasive: according to Cancer Care Ontario, nearly one in two Ontarians will get cancer in their lifetime.

The disease and statistics can both be frightening, but the Southeast Regional Cancer Centre at KHSC is bringing a combination of cutting-edge treatments and revolutionary approaches to care together to change lives.

Learn about the innovative medical therapies, passionate individuals and captivating concepts that are driving cancer treatment at KHSC.  

The Southeast Regional Cancer Program at KHSC

As part of the Cancer Care Ontario network, KHSC and its partners provide care for over 550,000 patients from Trenton to Smiths Falls. Population density is low, and the demographic served is older and more rural than many other Cancer Care Ontario regions. Many patients live over an hour away from KHSC, so the goal is to provide care closer to home.

Cancer care sites are designated from level 1 to 4, depending on the complexity of care provided.

• Three level 4 “satellite” sites (located in Brockville, Napanee and Perth) provide limited treatments – mainly systemic treatment like immunotherapy or chemotherapy, closer to patients.
• Belleville, a level 3 site, provides a similar scope of services but also has medical oncologists onsite that can determine treatment plans.
• KHSC is a level 1 site. It provides the most complex levels of care that provide the most advanced technology and training.

The program also supports patients from outside the region and has designed the cancer care centres from James Bay and Moosonee.

Regional leadership in treatment

As a level one site, KHSC provides crucial services that patients would need to otherwise obtain in Toronto or Ottawa. This includes experimental drug trials, radiation therapy and high complexity procedures like stem cell therapy or combined chemotherapy/radiation.

As the “hub” of the regional cancer program, it sets the standards of practice. KHSC brings clinical staff from across the region together for training and research to share the newest advances in cancer treatment and drive new developments in care.

There are 12 “tumor boards,” where oncologists from across the region bring new cases together to review, discuss and make decisions on care. The approach brings a diverse and extensive collection of medical knowledge to improve patient outcomes.

The cancer care trajectory

Cancer treatment is complex. It varies by disease site and, even at the site-level, cancers can be subdivided into hundreds of different types. Each disease is as unique as your genetic code. Certain treatments only work on certain cancers and many cancers have narrow window during which treatment is most effective.

Getting from diagnosis to treatment, faster.

Regional Diagnostic Assessment Programs (DAPs) coordinate the time from initial referral due to cancer suspicion to diagnosis. It’s a shared pathway between the different parts of the cancer treatment process that coordinates referrals, laboratory testing, diagnostic imaging and clinics for treatment.

KHSC has DAPs for lung, colorectal, esophagogastric, breast and high-risk breast cancer - one of the highest numbers of in-house assessment programs in the Cancer Care Ontario network. The Southeast Regional Cancer Program is also one of the only places in Ontario to have an accelerated diagnostic assessment program (ADAP). This pathway is focused on getting from referral to diagnosis quickly – usually within four weeks – and is used when the window for treatment may be especially narrow.

Once referred into a DAP, patients have access to a multidisciplinary care team or diagnostic imaging and laboratory specialists, as well as a patient navigator, who can help them through the process.

Not all patients referred to a DAP may not have cancer. For the ones that don’t it means peace of mind. For the ones that do, it means a formal diagnosis.

Diagnosis includes staging work-up, development of a treatment plan and next steps for patients with a positive cancer diagnosis. Patients are now on their care trajectory and the cancer centre’s goal is to help them on the path.

Cancer treatments

The number of cancer treatments is constantly growing, which means more life-changing opportunities for patients. Therapies can be complex and intricate, but the basic tools are:

• Surgical oncology, which removes solid mass tumors via surgery
• Radiation therapy, which delivers high doses of radiation to specific sites to destroy cancer cells
• Systemic treatment, which delivers medication that is processed through your body before reaching the cancer site.

Patients may receive a combination of these, depending on the type of cancer, its location and stage of development.

There are also specific treatments, surgeries and therapies that support cancer treatment. These could include preventative procedures to stop the cancer from spreading, or “rescue therapies” like stem cell therapy, that help the body respond better to treatment.

Redefining the care experience

While cancer therapies focus on treating the disease at a specific site, cancer care includes much more. Patients undergoing treatment are faced with countless questions and difficult conversations about the future.

The good news is that patients don’t have to do it alone. The program employs specialists help patients along the way by providing access to community resources, educational tools and counselling.

The future of cancer care at KHSC

The future of cancer care is bright at KHSC. Thanks to ongoing research, new advances in care are bringing hope to patients. More and more cancers – many of which were once considered untreatable – are now completely manageable as chronic illnesses and, in some cases, even completely curable.

Follow us as we discover what’s on the horizon.