The IWK is launching a new research unit aimed at helping patients with breast cancer across Nova Scotia.
The idea came from Dr. Gregory Knapp, a surgical oncologist at the IWK and Victoria General Hospital who moved back to Halifax in 2020 after fellowships in New York and Calgary.
Knapp said he found it jarring to read reports from the Canadian Cancer Society that revealed Nova Scotia has the lowest survival rate in the country for those diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I realized that I was going to be doing 50 per cent of my practice focused on breast cancer, and we didn’t have provincial or even really local clinical outcomes,” he said.
The Canadian Cancer Society says one in eight Canadian women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. The society estimated that 185 Nova Scotians would die of the disease in 2024.
Knapp said other jurisdictions, including his two former placements, relied on patient feedback and data to inform best practices in treatment.
Two years ago, he led the effort to collect data from patients in the Central Zone, which is primarily Halifax Regional Municipality.
He turned to his colleague, Dr. Ashley Drohan, and the two pitched the need for a full Breast Health Research Unit.
“That data is there. It’s not a mystery. We needed the resources and the funding to answer those questions,” said Knapp.
Drohan called the research “hugely important.”
“If we don’t measure it, we don’t understand it and we can’t improve it,” said Drohan.
The IWK Foundation got on board with their plan, and just received a $2-million dollar donation from the J&W Murphy Foundation to start the work.
They’ve hired three researchers who will compare the experiences of breast cancer patients across the province. The team will interview patients and compare clinical outcomes.
They’ll consider everything from anxiety to body image to sexual health. They’ll also compare the difference in care between patients who live in cities versus rural areas.
“That’s one of the many important areas that we’ll be looking at. Basically we want to understand how care is delivered to every patient in every postal code in the province,” said Drohan.
The IWK Foundation said the work is the first of its kind focusing exclusively on patients in Atlantic Canada.
Knapp said they were thrilled to get supporters on board.
“It’s also something that we should be able to deliver on. It shouldn’t be a luxury,” he said of the quality of care patients receive.
Knapp expects the team will be able to suggest concrete improvements in the system over the next five years. Among them, he said could be the need for counselling or patient navigators.
“A big driver for this for us — and I think was what spoke to the donors — was that we’re a bit of an outlier right now and we don’t know why,” he said.
