Peter Maccallum Cancer Centre Clinic in Melbourne, Australia

Peter Mac is an Australian center that is involved in cancer research and treatment and was created to treat people affected by cancer. The center has over 2,500 staff and more than 650 laboratory and clinical researchers.
The doctors at Peter Mac offer a wide range of cancer treatments that are selected according to your needs, the type of cancer, and the stage of the disease.

Partnerships:
- Peter MacCallum Cancer Center
- The Royal Melbourne Hospital
- The Royal Women’s Hospital

Diagnosis and investigation techniques used at Peter Mac center include:

1. NUCLEAR MEDICINE (molecular imaging) is a procedure that involves injecting radioactive chemicals called radiotracers into the bloodstream. Depending on the place the radiotracers localize in your body, the doctor can find out information about different cells, tissues, and organs.
The nuclear medicine technology may be used to test:
- Cardiac gated blood pool scan - is used to monitor heart function in patients having chemotherapy.

- Sentinel node scintigraphy - check the lymphatic spread in case of breast cancer and melanoma.

- Bone scan - is used to evaluate the tumor spread into the bones.

- MIBI scan - used for imaging multiple myeloma and to locate parathyroid adenomas.

- Thyroid scan - used to evaluate thyroid function and thyroid cancer.

- Renal scan - used for measurement and imaging of kidney function.

- Lung scan - detects clots in the lungs and measures lung function.

2. A Positron Emission Tomography also known as a PETscan is used to evaluate the condition of organs or tissues inside the body. During the procedure, a small quantity of radioactive solution is injected and then the scanner will detect the radiation released from the radioactive solution and will use this to create pictures of the inside of your body. The procedures take approximately 2-3 hours and are used to accumulate detailed information about the patient’s condition or to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment.

3. A bone marrow biopsy is a procedure used for the staging of blood conditions like leukemia, medullary aplasia. The biopsy is taken either from the back of the pelvis bone or from the anterior iliac crest, or the sternum.

4. Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) tests the functional capacity of a person’s cardiac, pulmonary, metabolic, and ventilatory function.

5. Radiology uses different kinds of imaging technologies such as CT scan, MRI, ultrasound, and digital mammography to diagnose and treat disease.

The types of cancers treated at Peter Mac include breast cancer, head and neck cancers, genitourinary cancers, gastrointestinal cancers, lung cancers, sarcomas, hematological diseases, melanoma, and skin cancers.