UT Offers Innovative "Seed" Procedure when Treating Breast Cancer

Until recently, only two other locations in the United States offered "seed" treatment for treating breast cancer. In a recent press release, UT Southwestern Medical Center announced that they are the third medical center in America to offer this innovative procedure when treating breast cancer.

The "seed" treatment is far less invasive than other procedures when surgery is necessary to remove a lump, or mass, due to breast cancer. By implanting a "seed," which is a small radioactive pellet, into the mass that needs to be removed, surgeons can pinpoint its exact location and the easiest way to remove it.

This "seed" is about the size of a grain of rice. Radiologists use a needle to insert the "seed" into the mass. This "seed" has just enough radioactivity to be found without being harmful to the patient or anyone else.

Radiologists can implant the "seed" up to five days before surgery.

During surgery, surgeons can use a wand to locate the radioactive "seed." This allows the surgeon to determine the best path to take to remove the mass (and the "seed").

This procedure is far less invasive and easier for both patients, surgeons, and radiologists than previous methods of identifying, locating, and removing masses from the breast.

Prior to the "seed" procedure, the radiologist would need to locate the mass a few hours before surgery. They would use a thin, hooked wire and insert it into the breast.

One end of the wire stuck out of the patient so the surgeon could see it, and the other was hooked into the mass that was to be removed. This wire was designed to help the surgeon locate the mass to remove.

Since the wire was actually attached to the patient and stuck out of the skin, it could only be inserted a few hours before surgery. Even then, it could always dislodge itself and have to be reinserted. Since radiologists are not surgeons, the "seed" allows a surgeon to choose their own path to remove the mass, instead of being bound to follow the wire.

The Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern will be joining the ranks of medical facilities offering this procedure in the near future.