Less invasive surgical option for breast cancer in US

A less invasive magnetic device that works asa surgical guidance probe to detect tumorstoo small to feel for breast cancer patients has been designed in the US which eliminates exposure to radioactive materials.
Patients with small, non-palpable breast tumors often undergo complex procedures todetermine the tumor's exact location prior to a lumpectomy.
Now, these patients may soonhave access to less invasive, easier alternative- a newly approved device that works asa magnetic surgical guidance probe to detect tumorstoo small to feel.
The technology,approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April, relies on the implantation of a magnetic lesion marker, called Magseed, into a cancerous lesion.

TheSentimag technology platform then sends audiovisual cues to surgeons to detectthemarker during thelumpectomy.
Throughbreast cancer screening programs, 50 per cent tumors are now detected atearly stages.

Currently, procedures involving surgical wire needles and radioactive seeds are used to identify and locate the tumors.
Buttraditionalguide wires, requiring the insertion of a tiny needle to mark the tumor site, are often associated with discomfort, require a same-day lumpectomy, and - because they can shift - can require a follow-up lumpectomy to remove the cancer.
Magseed, similar in size to a grain of rice, allows patients to return to home prior to theirsurgery.

The Sentimag-Magseed combination also eliminates the need to expose patients to radioactive materials and isless invasive than surgical wire needles, and may eventuallyreplace these standard-of-care procedures, according to Audrius Brazdeikis, aUniversity of Houston physicist, who co-invented the platform along with colleaguesat University College of London.
The collaborators set up a new company,Endomag, to commercialise the product. It will be marketedin the US and Canada under a partnership betweenDevicor Medical Productsand Endomag.
"Magseed is designed to guide surgeons using Sentimag to locate impalpable tumors for biopsy and has many advantages over wire and radioactive seed localisation," Brazdeikis said.
"Radiologists can place the Magseed magnetic markers up to 30 days in advance of surgery using X-ray or ultrasound guidance. This offers scheduling flexibility for surgeons and radiologists, as well as for patients, compared to wire-guided localisation," he said.

Sentimag wasapproved by the European Commission in 2010, but in combination with a different Endomag product, the Sienna magnetic nanoparticle tracer.
This tracer, which is used to identify the lymph nodes to which the cancer cells are drained, has already been used in more than 14,000 breast cancer procedures across Europe.