Novel Technology Makes Breast Cancer Surgery More Precise

One of the most common forms of breast cancer surgery today is lumpectomy, a surgery that involves the removal of breast tissue. Those women who opt for this surgery have undergone re-operation to remove the remaining tumor, because 30 to 60 percent of the time, doctors in the U.S. feel that they were not successful in getting it all.

However, a novel device used by surgeons at the UC Irvine Medical Center reduces the need to re-operate by almost half, and completely removes the traces of any breast cancer cell left during the initial lumpectomy. With the help of the new device called MarginProbe System, surgeons can immediately assess whether traces of cancer cells are left out on the margins of the excised tissue.

MarginProbe System consists of a sterile handheld probe and a portable console. As the probe tip comes in contact with the excised lumpectomy specimen, radio frequency signals are transmitted into the tissue and are reflected back to the console. It is in the console that these are analyzed with the help of a specialized algorithm, which determines the status of the tissue.

At present, patients have to wait for a long time for a pathologist to determine whether there are any cancer cells left or not.

"All of my patients know someone who has had to go back into surgery because their doctor didn't get the entire tumor out," UC Irvine Health surgical oncologist Dr. Alice Police said in a press statement. "The ability to check tissue in the operating room is a game changer in surgery for early-stage breast cancer."

The purpose of performing a lumpectomy is to completely wipe out the traces of the cancer cells, while still preserving a maximum of the breast tissues. On detecting cancer cells on the edge of the removed tissue, researchers assume that the entire tumor was not taken out, with the procedure of lumpectomy.

MarginProbe was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in December 2012. The first hospital to use this device is UC Irvine Medical Center, reports manufacturer Dune Medical Devices.

Surgeons began using the device in early March, and had also taken part in a FDA trial test that was done on 660 women across the U.S. In the test, surgeons used this device for breast tissue removed during the progress of first lumpectomies, and on detecting any, they shaved the extra tissue on the spot. They noticed that the need for re-surgery dropped by 56 percent.

"It will save you a lot of anxiety," said Jane Madigan, a Costa Mesa resident who underwent the procedure with Police as part of the MarginProbe trial. "You will come out of that surgery knowing you are cancer-free."