The BC Cancer Agency unveiled a fundraising drive Monday to purchase the region's first PET-CT scanner.
Bank of Montreal is making a $500 thousand dollar matching donation to raise $5 million dollars over the next three years.
Dr. Ross Halperin says the scanner can save patients from unnecessary treatment.
"The lump, we can still see those with traditional Cat scanners and MRI scanners but once going inside the lump is often still a mystery, especially if the lump is marginal in size. Pet-CT scanners have the ability to see inside the lump".
The only two PET-CT scanners are located in Vancouver, where more than 900 patients from the Southern Interior have visited this year to get test done.
The hope is to have the PET-CT scanner operational by 2019.