Heart specialist treated for rare cancer

Heart specialist Malcolm Legget, who has cancer, will be embarking on a cycling tour of the country. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Cancer survivor Malcolm Legget wants rare tumour treatment available in New Zealand.

Auckland heart specialist Malcolm Legget counts himself lucky to be alive more than three years after cancer was diagnosed in his pancreas and liver.

"The normal pancreatic cancer which has spread to the liver is pretty much fatal within a few months," Dr Legget said.

But his is an uncommon type of pancreatic cancer caused by neuroendocrine tumours or NETs, the same disease that killed Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

NETs affect the cells of the neuroendocrine system which controls the body's production of hormones. Cancer was diagnosed in 2011 after he saw a GP for upper abdominal pain, extreme fatigue and irritable bowel symptoms.

A specialist referred him to a cancer centre in Melbourne where he had a scan and form of radiation treatment, neither of which is provided in New Zealand. He said the tumours' response to the treatment had been "superb". All the cancer lesions in his pancreas and adjacent lymph nodes had "essentially disappeared". He still had lesions in his liver, but there were fewer in February than a year earlier.

"I feel extremely blessed. I am lucky to be alive. I went from thinking I had months to live, to now looking forward to many years," said the 52-year-old, a married father of three children aged 14 to 20.

District health boards send some patients to Australia for the type of scan he had in Melbourne - which uses a radioactive isotope not available in the New Zealand health system - but only if their disease is potentially curable by surgery. Dr Legget now chairs charity the Unicorn Foundation, to educate and support those with NETs. A keen cyclist, he and 30 others hope to raise $400,000 riding from Cape Reinga to Wellington in seven days, starting Saturday.

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The foundation, which is in talks with DHBs and the Mercy Ascot private healthcare group, aims to contribute to the production of the radioactive isotope gallium 68 for the PET scans, which show if a patient is likely to benefit from the radiation treatment Dr Legget received.

He said it would cost about $300,000 to produce gallium 68 for two years - enough to provide PET/CT scans for around 100 patients.

Northern Regional Cancer Network director Dr Richard Sullivan said the region's DHBs, Mercy Ascot and the foundation "are looking at an opportunity to provide this technology locally".

What is NET cancer?
• A group of slow-growing cancers caused by neuro-endocrine tumours (NETs).
NETs can be malignant (cancerous) or benign, although it is thought the benign ones will eventually become cancerous.

• The neuro-endocrine system, which controls hormone production , is made up of nerve and gland cells.

• The main places where NETs occur include the pancreas, liver, lungs, oesophagus, stomach and intestines.

• First symptoms can often include sudden flushing, high blood pressure, low blood-sugar and diarrhoea.

• In more than half of cases the tumour has spread before diagnosis.

• Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, synthetic hormones and radiation.

• 350 new cases each year.