A private company is taking advantage of the lack of PET scanners in the public health care system with plans to offer the most advanced diagnostic test, at a price, in clinics in three provinces.

The clinics in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary will charge $2,500 for the scan, which is considered the best tool for detecting certain cancers early and determining how far tumours have spread.

The company, International P.E.T. Diagnostics Inc., opened Canada's first private PET scan clinic in Vancouver last fall and has attracted clients from as far away as Newfoundland.

It is currently scouting locations, speaking with government officials and health law experts, interviewing doctors and finalizing arrangements to purchase the diagnostic equipment for the three new clinics. The facilities are expected to open within a year.

"People will pay for it because it can save their lives. Where there's a need, people will find a way to get it," said Normand Laberge, executive director of the Canadian Association of Radiologists.

"The word is out that it is valued technology that can save lives and private companies are saying, 'Why not offer it?' " Mr. Laberge said.

Only two PET scanners are publicly available to cancer patients in Canada, while there are about 250 south of the border. The test, called a positron emission tomography scan, is covered by medicare only in exceptional circumstances.

John Smith, the company's executive vice-president and a minority shareholder in the venture, which is led by B.C. architect Dennis Tusar, said they are expanding their business because "we recognized that it was going to take some time before provincial governments could see their way to having PET scans in public facilities.

"And there's not a lot of point in having just one grocery store. You need a chain to really be successful and to meet the needs of investors."

A report released last week concluded the procedure is highly effective in detecting cancers, prompting doctors to demand that governments purchase more PET scanners. Some believe the machines can also detect heart disease and Alzheimer's in its early stages.

The machines, which study diseased organs after the body has been injected with radioactive tracers such as glucose to highlight cancer, are also commonly used in Germany and Japan.

"Governments need to decide if they want it within the medicare system because this lack of decision and lack of leadership is opening the door to the private health care system in Canada," Mr. Laberge said. "That is actually what is happening and the potential for business is growing."

Mr. Laberge called on the federal government to step in and establish regulations for the operation of private clinics. "If it is not regulated and structured we are leaving ourselves open to major problems. Whether you're for or against the private system, it does exist now and it's not regulated. By ignoring the presence of a private one, I think it's creating more damage and it won't be reversible."

Provincial governments have been slow to buy the machines, which cost up to $3-million, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for maintenance.

Patients with lung, colon, brain or neck cancer, as well as advanced breast cancer, lymphoma or melanoma, can avoid some surgeries and invasive tests by having the scan, according to last week's report. That is because, unlike an MRI or CAT scan, PET views molecular changes in cells. For example, the report noted that PET scans are 93% accurate in detecting the spread of lung cancer, compared with 63% for CAT scans.

The Vancouver company is working its way through a maze of complex regulatory processes involving such players as Health Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

"We don't want to upset provincial authorities or medical groups," Mr. Smith said.

The company is conducting a marketing campaign in British Columbia to inform oncologists, family physicians and cancer support groups of the clinic's service.

"The company is filling a market niche," said Dr. Sandy McEwan, president of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine. "Achieving new technologies like this is difficult [in the public health care system] because provincial governments are mired in bureaucracy and in fixed budgets."