Think Pinker

According to ABC News it seems that a new treatment device may result in repeat breast cancer surgeries declining.

When a surgeon determines that the best plan of attack against a woman’s breast cancer is go in and remove a tumour they can only hope that they actually get the entire tumour for up until now there was no way of really knowing.

This best guess practice has led to many woman having to undergo surgery yet again down the road. Not knowing if the entire tumour has been removed leaves doctors feeling frustrated and women dealing with the uncertainty as to whether their clean bill of health is really that or just a prolonging until yet another surgery down the road.

There’s a new device that is hoped will change all of that. This new device uses special imaging techniques that are able to tell the difference between normal breast tissue and cancerous breast tissue. A sequence of images are taken, some formulas are used to devise a clue as to just how far the breast cancer is likely to have spread from the initial tumour. The theory is that with the aid of this new device and this new technique doctors will be able to remove sufficient breast cancer tissue so that fewer women have to undergo future surgeries.

Now as of now this technique is still in experimental stages and it’s anticipated it will be at least a couple more years before it is developed to a stage that will actually benefit women.

But what’s a couple more years if the battle? It is believed once perfected this promising new technique is going to save thousands of women from having to undergo breast cancer surgery a second or even a third time.