A Regina woman battling cancer is raising serious concerns after a critical diagnostic scan was postponed for three weeks, a delay she calls "unacceptable," due to the failure of Saskatchewan's only PET scanner.
The Cancellation That Sparked Alarm
Shannon Orell-Bast, diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in August 2022, was scheduled for a vital PET/CT scan at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon on December 23. The scan was meant to determine if her cancer had returned after extensive treatment including chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and a double mastectomy. However, her appointment, along with those of 26 other patients, was cancelled just before Christmas.
The cancellations occurred because the province's sole PET/CT scanner was unexpectedly offline. According to the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), the machine was unavailable due to an "unexpected production issue" at the Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation. This facility is the only producer in Saskatchewan of fludeoxyglucose, the radioactive tracer required to conduct the scans.
A Ripple Effect on Patient Care
Orell-Bast's scan was finally rescheduled for January 13, a full three weeks after the original date. The SHA stated that the scanner was partially back online by December 29 and returned to full operation by January 8. In total, 82 patient appointments were affected—27 cancelled on December 23-24 and 55 more disrupted as the system worked through the backlog.
For Orell-Bast, the delay creates a dangerous domino effect. The new scan date forces her to miss two scheduled oncology check-ups at Regina's Allan Blair Cancer Centre, pushing her entire treatment timeline back by nearly a month. As of January 8, she was still waiting to reschedule those vital follow-up appointments.
"The amount of emotional distress that comes with this is unacceptable," Orell-Bast stated. "It is already traumatic enough going through cancer diagnosis and treatment. No one needs to add further stress by delaying people’s diagnostics and care."
Why Every Day Counts
Orell-Bast emphasized that for cancer patients, time is of the essence. A three-week delay can be critical, especially for those with aggressive or advanced cancers. "If something comes back (on my scan), I don’t know what type of emotional response I will have," she said. "If I have a rapidly growing cancer that requires attention, I’m three weeks out from having had that scanned."
She stressed that any disruption in the healthcare chain creates ripples through a patient's entire care plan, potentially with serious consequences. The SHA has said it is rebooking patients based on clinical urgency, but the incident highlights the vulnerability of relying on a single piece of essential medical equipment for an entire province.
This case echoes broader concerns about healthcare capacity in Saskatchewan, following recent reports of patients unable to afford travel for specialized care and others enduring lengthy hospital hallway stays.
