None — BACKGROUND: More than 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone. The sooner the tumor is detected, the better their chances. The best way to find breast lumps is to do three things: have regular mammograms, have your doctor check your breasts, and check your breasts yourself every month. (Source: mayoclinic.com)
TREATMENT: Treatment for breast cancer may depend on the type of cancer, its stage, whether the cancer cells are sensitive to hormones, a patient's overall health and a patient's own preferences. Some treatment options include: a lumpectomy (removing the tumor and a small margin of surrounding tissue), a mastectomy (removing all breast tissue), a sentinel node biopsy (removal of lymph nodes), radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and/or other medications and targeted therapies.
THE WIRE METHOD: If a patient needs a lumpectomy, surgeons have to locate the tumor. The standard way of locating most breast tumors involves threading a wire through a needle to the site of the tumor, which is identified by mammogram or ultrasound. A surgeon later follows the wire to the tumor and removes it using X-rays as a guide. One downside of this method is the patient is left with a wire protruding from her breast while she waits for surgery. It also has to be done the same day as surgery, which may create scheduling problems for doctors and patients. The wire can be uncomfortable and often painful for patients. One final disadvantage is that doctors aren't always able to see exactly where the wire goes. "You can't see it," Louis Barr, M.D., a surgical oncologist from the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute in Orlando, Fla., told Ivanhoe. "You can't feel it. So, you're kind of guessing based on those X-rays."
SEEDS SPOTTING BREAST TUMORS: Dr. Richard Gray, a surgical oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, devised a new technique that involves implanting tiny, radioactive seeds into a woman's breast. The seed, which is a titanium capsule, emits a level of radiation less than that of a standard X-ray. A Geiger counter is used to read the radioactive signal and guide the surgeon to the tumor, which is removed with the seeds. Patients can have the seed implanted as an outpatient procedure up to five days before surgery.
BETTER OUTCOMES: Another advantage of the seed method is it reduces "dirty margins," or tumor tissue that remains after surgery. Complete removal of the lump is dependent on having a rim of healthy tissue -- known as clear margins -- surrounding the cancer. If the margin is positive, and the cancer returns, more surgery or a mastectomy is often required. In a Mayo Clinic study, 25 percent of patients who underwent the wire procedure had to have more surgery to remove leftover tumor tissue. With the seed method, only 8 percent of patients needed more surgery.
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