HALIFAX – Cody Campbell and his family know the important role of the IWK Health Centres’s MRI machine.
The four-year-old suddenly lost the ability to walk last September, following unexplained flu-like symptoms.
An MRI scan, at the Halifax children’s hospital, revealed Cody had medulloblastoma — an aggressive form of brain cancer.
He is now cancer-free, following surgery and months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
“Neither of them are possible without an MRI,” she said.
The Nova Scotia government announced Wednesday it’s committing $1.1 million to upgrade the MRI scanner at the IWK Health Centre.
The scanner, also known as a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, is used to produce images of cancer, brain injuries, or joint, bone and soft tissue problems in patients.
At Halifax’s IWK Health Centre, it’s also used by the obstetrics, gynecology and breast health teams.
The current scanner, which was purchased in June 2002, handles approximately 600 exams every month and hasn’t been upgraded in five years.
“It works well,” Premier Darrell Dexter told the crowd. “But at 11-years-old, its software needs upgrading.”
The upgrade to the machine’s software will make it more efficient, so that it can take more detailed scans faster. It will also be able to do scans the current machine is incapable of performing.
For Dr. Deborah Thompson, the IWK’s Chief of Diagnostic Imaging, this upgrade is a long time coming.
“There are things that we’ve been asked to do that we have not been capable of doing because this machine is old,” Thompson said.
“This allows us to progress and offer things to those sub-speciality areas that we haven’t been able to offer before.”
The upgraded machine will have many benefits. Thompson said it could cut back on the use of radiation and make testing less invasive. As well, since it is imperative to stay still during scanning, the improved test time means fewer children will need sedation.
The total cost of the upgrade is approximately $1.5 million, with the remaining $370,000 covered by the IWK Foundation.
It’s expected the upgrade will be complete by mid-August.
The MRI will continue to play a big role in Cody’s life. He will undergo a scan every three months to confirm the cancer has not returned.
The youngster, on hand for the announcement, had one thing to tell the room full of doctors, politicians and IWK Foundation members: “Thanks!”
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