CLARENVILLE, N.L. — A Clarenville hospital is the first in Canada to offer a new innovative technique for optimal surgical treatment of patients with breast cancer.
Eastern Health has announced that patients with clinical early-stage breast cancer are eligible for the procedure at Dr. G.B. Cross Memorial Hospital.
The new system was introduced in September, making it the first-time sentinel lymph node biopsy using the new system was performed in Canada.
General Surgeon, Dr. Ryno Verster, performed the surgeries and was pleased with the technique and the results.
“We are excited to be able to offer sentinel lymph node surgery to our breast cancer patients close to their homes. This technique is ideally suited for use in rural areas without easy access to nuclear medicine. I expect that there will be a great deal of interest in this technique from all over rural Canada,” said Dr. Verster.
To date, nine surgeries have been completed at the Dr. G.B. Cross Memorial Hospital using the Sentimag system. Dr. Verster expects to perform approximately 30 to 35 of these procedures annually.
The technique is made possible by the Sentimag system which uses magnetic particles to identify sentinel lymph nodes, or the first lymph nodes to which cancer cells are most likely to spread. The procedure is performed to accurately stage the armpit area at the time of breast cancer surgery.
The new system avoids a more invasive procedure by identifying only the sentinel lymph node and, therefore, significantly reduces potential side effects including tissue swelling, or lymphedema, and shoulder dysfunction.
In addition, the new technique does not require nuclear medicine making the procedure ideal for patients in rural areas.
The technique was originally developed in Europe and numerous studies have been published in major international journals documenting its efficacy.
