A woman diagnosed with an ultra-rare form of cancer has called on the NHS in Scotland to provide sufferers with the same level of follow-up care that patients get in England.
Jennifer Lewis, 52, was found to have ocular melanoma - a type of eye cancer that affects just seven people in every million.
The disease was spotted during a routine eye test, and Ms Lewis went on to have treatment at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow.
She was told the cancer could spread to her liver, and said patients in Scotland could only have ultrasound scans to check for this. Sufferers in England can access MRI scans which can detect the disease at an earlier stage.
Ms Lewis has now brought a petition to Holyrood calling on MSPs to urge the Government to ensure ocular melanoma patients can receive enhanced MRI scans "in an attempt to detect early metastatic disease".
She told members of the Public Petitions Committee: "My tumour was identified during a routine eye test at Specsavers, fortunately it was a very good optician who noticed it.
"I had treatment in Gartnavel Hospital in 2013. At that time I was informed that this type of cancer was very rare and could potentially spread to my liver and I would have to attend Gartnavel Hospital for the remainder of my life for surveillance scans.
"I'm here because I would like to bring it to your attention that in Scotland we are only offered abdominal ultrasound scans to try to track any metastasis to the liver, yet in England fellow sufferers and patients are offered MRI scans which give sufferers in England a chance for the cancer to be detected early, to have appropriate treatment and be entered into clinical trials.
"In Scotland we don't have that opportunity. What I'm here for, to try to urge the NHS to change their opinion that ultrasound scans are sufficient."
She is being backed by the charity OcuMel UK, with member Iain Galloway telling the committee an MRI scan in England meant doctors were able to act when it was discovered the disease had spread.
Mr Galloway told MSPs he had already lost an eye because of ocular melanoma when a scan in 2013 revealed it had spread to his liver.
He said "50% of all sufferers get metastases, it's a very common spread of this cancer", but added: "Thankfully because I was picked up quite early I was able to have the cancer removed and that was in 2013.
"To date all my scans have been clear, I live a full life, I've got a young family, a young son, I work full-time, and most of the people I meet who have survived the metatastic stage of the disease for any number of years, they have always, without any exception, had MRI screening, because that picks up the disease when it is able to be treated."
He added that by the time the cancer can be detected using an ultrasound scan, there "might be dozens" of growths and "it is too late to do anything".
MSPs on the committee agreed to investigate the issue, and will contact the Scottish Government for its response.
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