Oncology & Endoscopy

In partnership with CAREchart@home and Cancer Care Ontario, St. Michael’s has developed an after-hours telephone service to support you in managing your cancer-related treatment symptoms. The service can also be used by patients at St. Joseph’s Health Centre.

The goal of the after-hours symptom management phone line is to help you better manage your symptoms at home, preventing you from needing to visit the emergency room. The CAREchart@home team will inform your doctor about the telephone service provided to you.

The CAREchart@home symptom management phone line is intended for use only after clinic hours and not during regular clinic hours. During the weekdays you should contact the Medical Daycare Unit that is providing your care.

The Centre for Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy and Endoscopy Oncology at St Michael’s Hospital is one of the largest teaching and research facilities in Canada. With eight procedure rooms complete with state-of-the-art endoscopic equipment, we diagnose and treat complex digestive conditions, diagnose, stage, and treat cancers of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, gall bladder and colon. Our team includes 11 endoscopy physicians, three colorectal surgeons, 30 registered nurses with enhanced endoscopic certifications, five reprocessing specialists and four receptionists.

The Therapeutic Endoscopy unit has twice been designated a Centre of Excellence for outstanding contributions to International Education in the field of endoscopy by the World Endoscopy Organization. Our inpatient clinical teaching unit, the largest in the University of Toronto teaching hospitals, has 12 beds for patients with complex digestive diseases and over 600 patients are admitted every year.

Endoscopy services include:

• Colonoscopy
• Gastroscopy
• Polypectomies
• Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD)
• Endoscopic Ultra Sound (EUS)
• Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
• Barrett’s esophageal treatments (EMR)
• Peroral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM)

The CIBC Breast Centre is a premier facility within St. Michael’s offering a complete range of assessment, diagnostic and treatment services for women of all ages.

Our centre is dedicated to treatment and research, but we are also focused on advancing breast cancer care and prevention. We ensure that each patient is cared for in a comprehensive manner, addressing physical and psychosocial needs, including support from a breast navigator and the high risk screening program staff, connecting patients to ensure seamless transitions in care. In addition to performing mammograms as an Ontario Breast Cancer Screening Program site, we provide procedures, surgeries and treatments including:

• Special views
• Breast ultrasound
• Ductogram
• Biopsies
• Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA)
• Needle localization
• Surgical Treatment of Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS)
• Lumpectomy
• Wire localized lumpectomy
• Mastectomy (simple or total mastectomy; modified radical mastectomy; radical mastectomy; and mastectomy and immediate reconstruction)
• Axillary dissection
• Sentinel lymph node biopsy
• Lobular carcinoma
• Breast reconstruction
• Genetic testing through Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

At St. Michael’s we provide medical care for patients with non-cancerous blood disorders. Our hematologists provide specialized expert care for patients with thromboembolism, thrombotic microangiopathy, and immune cytopenias, among many others. It is our mission to provide best-in-class patient blood management care as we prepare patients for surgery as well as labour and delivery to decrease preventable blood transfusion. We also have a hematology program that provides care for pediatric patients as they transition to young adulthood.

Founded in 1983, the Hemophilia Comprehensive Care Program at St. Michael’s is the largest hemophilia program in Canada. Our program takes a multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis and management of patients with congenital and acquired coagulation disorders. As the designated Hemophilia Treatment Centre (HTC) for Central Ontario and the largest HTC in Canada, we care for patients with hemophilia as well as a variety of inherited and acquired bleeding disorders, taking a multidisciplinary approach to women’s health.

Our core team includes hematologists, nurses, a physiotherapist, a data manager and clerical assistants. We work closely with the Special Coagulation and Blood Transfusion Laboratories and with our many medical, surgical and dental consultants. We also provide dedicated care for women through a Multidisciplinary Clinic for Women with Bleeding Disorders (MCWBD).This clinical program is an important resource for the University of Toronto training programs in adult and pediatric Hematology, Hematological Pathology, and Transfusion Medicine. We are an International Hemophilia Training Centre Fellowship site (a program of World Federation of Hemophilia).

In 1995, an allied health team was approved to support Dr. Khursheed Jeejeebhoy to provide care for Home Total Parenteral Nutrition (HTPN) patients. Our team consists of a dedicated gastroenterologist, TPN nurses, dietitians and pharmacists who specialize in nutritional care, central line management and intestinal rehabilitation. Our team has mainstreamed several innovations by conducting clinical drug trials and clinical research that has led to original publications. We are proud to say that we have one of the first academic health centers to have a Home TPN Clinic where the patient can be seen with the multidisciplinary team in St. Michael’s, while the specialist is in another city using urban Telemedicine. Internal referrals for Home TPN can be made by contacting the TPN Nurse.

If you are an Indigenous patient or family at Unity Health Toronto or in the Toronto Region and require support during your cancer journey, the Toronto Central Indigenous Cancer Navigator is available to you.

The Medical Daycare Unit at St. Michael’s provides comprehensive outpatient care for a wide range of cancers including breast, colon and lung cancer, non-acute hematological cancers, Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary as well as disorders of the blood. We offer many different types of treatment and supportive therapies depending on the patient’s needs including chemotherapy, iron infusions, transfusions and others.

Care is provided by an interprofessional team of cancer specialists, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, a drug access navigator, physiotherapists and dietitians, who are all experienced in providing care to cancer patients. We also arrange palliative and psychiatric consults for patients through the Medical Daycare Unit.

The inpatient unit at St. Michael’s is located on the 8th Floor of the Peter Gilgan Tower, a state-of-the-art unit with 16 private rooms designed with patient and family comfort in mind. Some features of the space include individual patient rooms with their own bathrooms and family zones, three airborne isolation rooms, new clinical equipment such as ceiling-mounted patient lifts as well as conference rooms and smart TVs to increase collaboration and education for the unit’s interprofessional team.

Medical staff at the St. Michael’s Thromboembolism / VTE Clinic specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of thromboembolic disorders, the management of thrombophilic conditions and issues related to the use of antithrombotic therapy. Patients referred to the VTE Clinic will be triaged and assessed by a staff physician.

This is a specialized clinic for patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and complement mediated hemolytic uremic syndrome (CM-HUS). The clinic is administered in-person and virtually. We are actively involved in research and clinical studies.