Trial success brings breast cancer technology to hospitals

A tiny device the size of a grain of salt is changing the how doctors deliver breast cancer surgery at a Queensland hospital.

Redland Hospital

A revolutionary device the size of a grain of salt is improving the outcomes of breast cancer surgery for Queensland women.

Redland Hospital successfully trialled the use of the established Magseed/SentiMag technology as a pre-surgical procedure in October last year, and it is now commonplace as a pre-surgical technology for breast cancer.

The Magseed device helps surgeons locate small cancers that are hard to feel or see, improving the accuracy and efficiency of lumpectomies and assisting in a patient’s recovery.

Redland Hospital is the first hospital in South East Queensland to use the technology, after it delivered promising results throughout the trial.

A similar trial was successfully conducted by Dr Emilia Dauway at QEII Hospital this year.

The team, consisting of two breast surgeons, two breast care nurses and teams of radiologists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists at Redland Hospital, treated and provided surgical care using the Magseed/SentiMag to 155 women in the 2022-23 financial year.

Director of surgical services Dr Prath Nakka said that for some women who have chemotherapy before surgery, the use of Magseed eliminates a number of other procedures which had to take place before surgery.

“Magtrace is a magnetic dye that is injected to locate lymph nodes and it can be injected while the patient is asleep or in the clinic rather than hours prior to surgery, again improving patient comfort and experience,” he explained.

“It can be inserted any time prior to surgery by the radiologist – which means patients don’t have to wait all morning prior to a two-hour operation in the afternoon,” she said.

“This also allows the theatre time to be utilised more efficiently and the patient’s operation can be scheduled independent of the radiology services.”

Sandra Smith, 74, from Mt Cotton, was one of the first patients to receive the Magseed device before she had breast surgery at Redland Hospital.

“The Magseed was done a week beforehand; they just gave me a needle, numbed it and there was no discomfort – I was quite surprised,” she said.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said the technology was extraordinary.

“This is a wonderful example of the amazing work being done at Redland Hospital to improve care for Redlands Coast women living with breast cancer,” she said.

“I’m so proud of clinicians like Dr Nakka who are pioneering the use of innovative technologies like Magseed to reduce the number of procedures required to treat women with breast cancer.”