Heartbeat: Cancer services go nuclear during COVID-19!

July 20, 2020

When COVID-19 arrived at our doors we knew right away that one of the most vulnerable patient groups at our Trust would be our cancer patients. After months of radiotherapy and chemotherapy their immunocompromised bodies would stand little chance of battling COVID-19. Immediately work began to see how we could continue supporting these patients but in a safe environment, away from the risks of infection in an acute hospital.

With the looming threat of COVID-19, we took the decision to shield our cancer patients by immediately moving their treatment to two external sites, The Priory for gynaecological surgery and Solihull Parkway for breast cancer surgery. To find out more about the work that went in to safeguarding our cancer treatments we caught up with Bill Thomson, Consultant Physicist and Head of Physics and Nuclear Medicine, who told us about a new process being used to ensure surgery offsite goes smoothly.

He said: “When our surgeons operate on a cancer patient, sometimes the patients need a radioactive tracer injection near the tumour site. The tracer lets the surgeon pick up the sentinel lymph nodes using a small radioactive probe and to identify the nodes which should also be excised at the surgery. Currently, this is used for some breast cancer surgery patients and also for some vulval cancer surgery.

“Normally, this injection is done on the morning of the surgery on-site at City Hospital. However, to ensure our patients would be able to have their surgery, we set up a procedure whereby a patient visits nuclear medicine the day before surgery for their injection and they can still go to have their surgery the next day with the tracer still being detectable.”

He added: “We have worked closely with private hospitals to ensure processes such as risk assessments, storage and disposal of swabs were put in place. It has been a real team effort, but it has all been worth it to ensure patients can still undergo their surgeries with minimal disruption.”

Tina Robinson, Group Director of Operations – Surgical Services, told us: “We have completed 174 operations up until 13 May offsite. Being able to work collaboratively in this way has meant that patients have still been able to receive the essential surgeries they need. We’re grateful to all of the hospitals we have been working with for their support.”