In the latest episode of the BBC’s show, “Trust me, I’m a Doctor”, an innovative new product called Magseed is being trialled to improve surgery for women with breast cancer. A tiny magnetic seed is being used to transform how cancerous tissue is localised so that it can be removed, rather than using traditional guide wires. This helps the surgeons pinpoint exactly where they need to operate, and which angle is the best to approach the tumour. Much smaller tumours are currently being detected through the breast cancer screening programme, which are more difficult to find during surgery using guide wires.
Dr Mike Harvey, Senior Economic Modeller, and the Aquarius team will be supporting Miss Jennifer Rusby, Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon, and her colleagues at the Royal Marsden Hospital with this evaluation. Aquarius will focus on measuring the impact of using Magseed on resource use and costs. Results will help the hospital understand how this new technology can help them manage valuable resources, for example surgeons’ and theatre time, and also explore the benefits for women such as reducing the amount of tissue that needs to be removed during surgery.
Miss Rusby comments in the video, “With the seed we can place the probe on the breast and X marks the spot. One of the benefits of the seed may be that I can get to that point in the breast more accurately and therefore take away less normal healthy tissue from around it.”
Dr Quentin Harmer, Chief Technology Officer at Endomag says, “We are delighted to be working with Miss Rusby and the Royal Marsden Hospital to evaluate Magseed. Our aim is to deliver better treatment for people with breast cancer, and we are looking forward to the evidence generated by the team at Aquarius to demonstrate the cost and value of our products for the Royal Marsden and other hospitals.”
You can see a short clip from the show explaining more about the technology and the evaluation.
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