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Dr. May Lynn Quan has dedicated her career to breast cancer. She is the medical director of the Calgary Breast Health Program, scientific director of SPHERE (Strategies for Precision Health in Breast Cancer), general surgery site lead at Foothills Medical Centre, and a professor at the University of Calgary’s Department of Oncology. Seeing first-hand how treatment advancements can make a difference in the life of someone facing cancer, Dr. Quan has focused her work on making surgery as comfortable and effective as possible. Surgery requires carefully pin- pointing mammogram-detected tumours, which are too small to locate through a manual exam.
To mark the tumour for removal, patients have traditionally visited an imaging facility on the morning of their surgery to have an invasive, uncomfortable hook wire implanted. The wire protrudes from the breast and requires the patient to travel to a surgical centre within two hours of its implantation to have the tumour removed, all without accidentally being moved. “Hook wires have been the standard for decades,” Dr. Quan says. “The good news is we have made progress and have other ways to identify these lesions.” Over the past five years, Dr. Quan has switched to using the less invasive and more accurate option of implanting radioactive seeds. A Geiger counter is used to read the seed’s location, meaning less damage to breast tissue and a less stressful experience for the patient. While these seeds mean a more accurate and less stressful approach to surgery, they have raised concerns about the dangers of radioactivity. Enter magnetic seeds. The new pilot uses Magseed ® , a product which, like the radioactive seeds, involves placing a marker resembling a grain of rice at the tumour site. Unlike the radioactive version, though, these seeds allow surgeons to magnet- ically locate the marker and, therefore, the tumour without the use of radioactive materials. This means the seeds can sit safely and indefinitely in the breast without risk of dislodging or pain, allowing for less urgent and complicated scheduling, and fewer imaging appointments. The best part: surgeons are more able to remove the tumour in one operation. “This technology allows us to be efficient with our healthcare resources to improve the patient journey,” Dr. Quan says. “We’re very excited about the funding from Calgary Health Foundation to bring it to Calgarians and to provide data for the rest of the province so that we can hopefully bring it to patients across Alberta.”
Through the support of Calgary Health Foundation, and a significant gift from Alberta Cancer Foundation, Dr. Quan has been instrumental in bringing a new pilot program to Alberta that will revolutionize the way patients in Calgary experience breast- preserving cancer surgery.
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