QEII Respirologist Dr. Simon Houston.
QEII Foundation donors are giving patients at the QEII a more comfortable journey to face their cancer diagnosis head-on. In 2016, our Ride for Cancer powered by Bank of Montreal community raised over $195,000 to bring an endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) to the QEII.
Compared to the previous method (an invasive surgical procedure, called cervical mediastinoscopy), EBUS is a far superior option for diagnosing chest diseases and cancers. With over 900 cases of lung cancer in Nova Scotia every year, EBUS is transforming the way healthcare teams are able to provide care to their patients.
EBUS provides many benefits such as improved, real time imaging of difficult-to-reach areas including lymph nodes, better diagnosis and management of the disease, reduced risk to the patient, less pain and discomfort, faster recovery times under moderate sedation as opposed to general anesthesia, and increased number of procedures - from 100 each year to 200 each year.
“Because of the generous donors in our community, we are able to ensure that more patients are getting the best tests possible,” says Dr. Simon Houston, Respirologist at the QEII. “We’ve already been able to use EBUS with over 500 patients.”