{For fb: for Breast cancer patients, new technology brings a ray of hope. Yay science!}

Breast Cancer is the most common type of cancer affecting most cities of India, and 2nd most common in the rural areas. Breast Cancer is known accounts to nearly 25%-32% of the total cancer cases in the women population.

For breast cancer patients, surgeons are now enabling them to participate more in the decision making process by providing them with a full range of options.

For example, The ‘radioactive breast seed‘ enables a surgeon to locate abnormal tissue too small to be felt by human touch (non-palpable). It leads the doctor to the location of cancerous tissue, yielding the target area for surgical action with precision.

Similarly, “MarginProbe” is for those who have been detected with early stage breast cancer, and are considering a “lumpectomy“. It enables real-time detection of cancer in the operating room, during the lumpectomy process. Previously, an almost a seven-day wait time had to be endured before lumpectomy patients received results from a pathologist. Then, if the margins from the excised tissue were not clean and free from cancer, a follow-up surgery was necessary.

Radio frequencies are used to measure the difference between normal and malignant breast tissues.

It has been concluded that “MarginProbe” had lowered the re-excision rate for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive cancer by 50%. This has been labeled as a breakthrough statistic.

However, Patients who have cancer in both breasts, or who have had prior radiation or surgery in the affected breast, are not candidates for this technology.

In layman terms, the technology helps clean the margins and make sure that all the cancer is out. It enhances accuracy and efficiency.

A faint glimmer of hope. Sigh.