Français

The Ville Marie Oncology Foundation Supports Numerous Projects
To Improve Ambulatory Community-Based

State-Of-The-Art Breast Cancer Detection And Management

 

The Ville Marie Oncology Foundation was created by members and friends of the Ville Marie Oncology Center to reflect the gradual North American shift of breast cancer care away from the traditional general hospital setting to more focused and less daunting ambulatory specialized community-based breast centers. While the traditional multi-mission general hospital model still provides access to surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, treatment times in the hospital have been so dramatically shortened that current breast cancer patients now spend significantly more time in the ambulatory setting than actualy in the hospital. In fact, the most challenging component of breast cancer management is the ever more complex technology needed for optimal breast cancer detection and precise tumor extent evaluation , both of which have become too costly for most general hospitals to acquire and maintain.

Because hospital-based foundations generally do not support activities outside their respective campus, the Ville Marie Oncology Foundation made it its mandate to fill the void and help support patients who otherwise could not afford access to the latest technology aimed at earlier detection and better management, particularly during this era of budget constraints in the public health care system. The first major project funded by the Ville Marie Oncology Foundation (VMOF) was the original VMOF Stereotaxic Breast Biopsy Unit to help provide an alternative to the too few hospital-based units and support ambulatory patients with quicker access to the latest minimally-invasive tissue harvesting techniques. Other seminal projects include the much-appreciated Recovery Sessions where newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients have regular access to psychology and physiotherapy expertise respectively from Karen Lachapelle and Ingrid Kalacis to better prepare them for their respective treatment strategies.

The VMOF also supports a number of educational activities for breast specialists, including a yearly Visiting Professorship Program and a 3-yearly review of all aspects of breast cancer for the general public by Ville Marie and outside experts. A new Ville Marie video-conferencing unit to complement the state-of-the art microscope and monitor, both provided via the VMOF by the Dalfen family, are integral parts of the weekly Ville Marie Oncology-Pathology Conference where all new Ville Marie Oncology Center breast cancer cases are reviewed by the multidisciplinary team of breast experts to ensure optimal management. The VMOF is currently funding a new study to assess the impact of immediate initial core imprint pathology slide evaluation on improving the quality of tissue harvesting and decreasing patient anxiety generated by having to wait for results (page 11, Newsletter N°9). The results of this research trial could encourage other breast centers to follow the lead by raising the previous standards.

The beginning of the community-based therapeutic effort began with the VMOF-supported Ville Marie – Hôpital Notre-Dame Breast Brachytherapy Treatment Protocol. This protocol was run conjointly between the Ville Marie Oncology Center and l’Hôpital Notre-Dame and accepted eligible breast cancer patients who could benefit from this new internal breast radiotherapy technique which lasts only one week rather than the 5-week traditional external beam radiotherapy. This far shorter course is particularly appreciated by the numerous patients who have to travel each day to the radiotherapy site. However, this treatment would not have been possible in Canada if the VMOF did not fund the $2500 required for each MammoSite Balloon. This procedure is now covered in the US by Medicare and most private health plans since it has equal results as the traditional external beam radiotherapy and also gets patients back home and to work much faster.

The VMOF has its own Board of Volunteer Directors which manages the Foundation, registered as a charitable organization, along with both patient representatives and professional advisors. While the Foundation shares similar priorities with the Ville Marie Oncology Center, including optimizing breast cancer prognosis, it is completely independent of the Center and is committed to providing help for needy breast cancer patients. It is the Foundation’s mission and objective to improve the community’s access to new technology that can improve and enhance breast cancer detection and treatment. Any project funded by the Ville Marie Oncology Foundation is conceived and always managed as a fiscally independent not-for-profit entity, irregardless of where the project takes place.

The oncologists and medical staff of the Ville Marie Oncology Center wish to thank the VMOF on behalf of their numerous patients who have benefited from their generosity over the last years.

For further information, or to make a donation, please call 514 933-8951