ANN ARBOR, MI - Cancer treatment is draining enough on its own, without worrying about piling on the miles driving to and from the doctor's office to receive chemotherapy drugs. To make that aspect more convenient for some patients and to accommodate growing demand for cancer care, the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center will soon begin offering chemotherapy infusion in Canton.

On July 21, the U-M Board of Regents will consider a proposal to add a chemotherapy infusion area at the U-M Health System's Canton Health Center, which is located on N. Canton Center Road, off Interstate-275 near Ford Road. The new space will be 4,300 gross square feet and will include nine infusion treatment chairs, expanded laboratory services and a new CT scanner for imaging scans that indicate whether chemotherapy treatment is working.

“Approximately 15 percent of our infusion patients come from the I-275 corridor, so we hope this expansion will allow many of them to receive their cancer care closer to home,” says Douglas Blayney, M.D., medical director of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. “While cancer treatment is complex, new procedures make it safe to administer chemotherapy at satellite centers. We hope the expansion into Canton will make treatment a little easier on our Detroit area patients and those patients whose primary care doctors already practice at the U-M Canton Health Center.”

The Cancer Center has seen 15 percent growth per year in its infusion services from 1998 to 2004. In fiscal year 2004, it performed 34,952 infusion procedures.

The Canton infusion center will be staffed by U-M Cancer Center nurses. Cancer outpatient clinical services are not planned at Canton as part of the expansion. Primary care, cardiology and other specialty services will continue as before in Canton. Laboratory services such as blood work will also be available on site. Patients will need a referral from their U-M oncologist to receive infusion at the Canton center.

Blayney expects a range of cancer patients could be treated in Canton, particularly those who require daily infusions. Depending on the type of cancer, chemotherapy may be given anywhere from once a day to once every two or three weeks.

“All the treatments will be started in Ann Arbor, and typically we'll use Canton for follow-up treatments that don't require a doctor's visit,” Blayney says.

The renovations are budgeted at $4.7 million, primarily for the purchase of new equipment. Funding will come from the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers resources. The Canton infusion area is expected to open in summer 2006.

Written by Nicole Fawcett

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