Windsor Regional Hospital is launching a new program for cancer patients that was previously unavailable in the area.
The Autologous Stem Cell Transplant (ASCT) program will launch on Tuesday, July 8 at the Windsor Cancer Centre.
The initial rollout of the program will begin with autologous stem cell transplants specifically for patients with multiple myeloma.
Autologous, or auto stem cell transplants, are when a patient’s own stem cells are collected and then reinfused back into their body following intensive chemotherapy or radiation.
Dr. Sahar Khan is a Hematologist at the hospital and says she's excited the service is now available in Windsor.
She says it's exciting for patients, clinical teams and everyone who cares for the patients day in and day out.
Dr. Khan says the program will assist patients over the age of 18.
"We're just starting out over the next six to 12 months taking things a little bit slow just making sure that we're doing things with as high of quality and to as good as standard as possible," says Dr. Khan.
Prior to the program arriving in Windsor, Dr. Khan says patients would travel to London to receive the service.
"It takes a couple of visits for the patients," says Dr. Khan. "So it's not a one and done thing. They go initially to consult with the doctors over there then they have to travel over there for the air freeze procedure then they actually have to be admitted to the hospital for a couple of days while they get their high dose chemotherapy and they get their stem cell so it's multiple visits and multiple over night stays."
She says it's really hard to state the importance of the treatment for patients.
"We have to recognize this is a particularly high needs group," she says. "These are generally patients who have been through multiple parts of treatment, multiple lines of chemotherapy. They may be patients that are really struggling to hope and to feel there's light at the end of the tunnel and to be able to have those conversations in a positive way is really important."
It's anticipated the program will assist 30 patients per year.
The first patient collection is scheduled for Tuesday and the hospital is calling it a significant milestone in local cancer care.
The cost of the equipment for the program was roughly $150,000 and the cost for staff training over the past three years was around $100,000.
The local cancer centre foundation funded the equipment and training.