Bluewater Health announces new breast-imaging technology

Article content

A new technology is helping make breast cancer surgeries less invasive at Bluewater Health, the Sarnia-Lambton hospital group’s head of diagnostic imaging says.

Article content

Savi Scout, a technology that includes implanting a seed-sized, nickel-titanium reflector at lesion sites, means patients being prepped for surgery no longer have to have their lesions marked with wires, said Dr. Youssef Almalki.

Article content

Recommended Videos

Article content

Having metal wires hooked into cancerous lesions, and protruding through the skin, showing surgeons where to cut, was the old way of doing things, he said.

With Savi Scout, the alloy – which is not radioactive and doesn’t emit magnetic waves – is typically injected at the time of biopsy, he said.

“If we see a lesion that’s suspicious, that we think has a high probability of cancer . . . we can put this localization seed in at the same time.”

If the biopsy comes back negative, it can stay in the tissue, he said.

Article content

The implant “doesn’t set off any alarm bells at airports and whatnot.”

If surgery is needed, surgeons use ultraviolet light to spot the “seed,” he said.

The result is less time in hospital for patients, less tissue removed in surgery, better accuracy and fewer repeat surgeries – for small pieces of tumour that may be left behind – as well as faster recovery times, Almalki said.

The expense is about $400 to $500 a seed, he said, versus wires that cost fewer than $20 each.

“But it was decided that it was important enough,” to get the technology, he said.

“That that’s an investment in patient outcome and patient experience.”

Of note, he said, maybe one to two per cent of the 12,000 or so patients a year who receive mammograms at Bluewater Health need biopsies, and half of those who get a biopsy don’t need surgery.

Article content

“Which is important for people to know,” he said. “Just because somebody is getting a breast biopsy, that doesn’t mean they have cancer.”

Bluewater Health also started using CADstream technology about a month ago for breast MRIs, he said.

The scans are used for people at high risk of breast cancer, who start annual screening at age 30 – screening otherwise starts at age 40 – for people whose mammograms show something doctors aren’t sure about, and people with cancer, who need to be screened to see if there are other tumours, Almalki said.

Contrast is injected for the MRI, he said.

“The software is able to analyze, if the patient has a lesion, how that lesion behaves with the contrast,” he said.

That helps radiologists categorize the lesion, whether it needs to be biopsied, taken out, followed, or left alone, he said.

Article content

“A lot of times, if we’re not sure, we’re going to err on the side of biopsy, just to be safe,” Almalki said.

It cost Bluewater Health about $91,000 for the two technologies, fully funded by the provincial surgical and diagnostic imaging innovation fund, said Bluewater Health spokesperson Maria Siabato.

Bluewater Health is announcing the investments now, during breast cancer awareness month, to help spread the word about the importance of annual screening, Almalki said.

“The whole goal here is to help (patients) catch cancer early, beat it, and kind of go on with their life,” he said.

More than 85 per cent of all breast cancer patients have no family history of the disease, and 13 per cent of breast cancer cases in Ontario are diagnosed in 40- to 49-year-olds, officials said in a news release.

Article content

No referrals are needed to book a screening, Almalki said. People can book at bluewaterhealth.ca/mammography, or by calling 519-464-4400 ext. 4515.

Ontario Health lists mammogram wait times at Bluewater Health at more than eight weeks.

Having more technologists would help, Almalki said, noting Bluewater Health is looking at options to help speed up screening.

An annual Bluewater Health Foundation Brews for Breasts event that last year raised $4,000 for Bluewater Health breast imaging was happening Wednesday, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Refined Fool’s London Road location.

“We have nothing but great things to say about the foundation,” Almalki said.

“Whenever we come to ask them for help, they’ve always been there.”

[email protected]

Article content