JCH using new biopsy technique (9/27/03)

A new biopsy technique now available at Jay County Hospital reduces the chance of complications associated with the removal of lymph nodes in breast cancer patients.

This new procedure using the neoprobe, which was purchased in August, can save many woman with breast cancer from lymphedema, a painful swelling, numbness or loss of motion in the arms.

Drs. Herman Burgermeister and Steven Boyle, surgeons at JCH, are currently taking appointments for sentinel node biopsy procedures, which only remove one or two lymph nodes where cancer from the breast is most likely to have spread first, according to information from JCH. If no cancer is present in these nodes, it is likely that the cancer has not spread and other lymph nodes are cancer free.

“This is a significant breakthrough for breast cancer patients,” Burgermeister said in a recent release from JCH. “With this technique, women have less post-operative pain, fewer complications and a quicker return to normal activity. This procedure is state-of-the-art for staging breast cancer, and the technique could soon become standard practice.”

JCH purchased the $26,800 neoprobe from Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio. and has recently received the handheld device.

“The (sentinel node biopsy) is a less invasive procedure ... and more precise for patient and surgeon,” JCH surgical services manager Vickie Liette said recently.

“(The neoprobe) is not commonly used by rural hospitals,” Liette said adding that a patient might have to travel to Indianapolis for this procedure. “There are no (other) rural hospitals in this area (that have a neoprobe.)”

During this biopsy procedure, a radioisotope and dye are injected into the breast which will settle in the sentinel nodes, just as the cancer cells would if the cancer had spread. Using the neoprobe, doctors can easily detect the radiation and surgically remove the nodes for testing. The incision is made directly above the lymph node, Liette said.

In a newly diagnosed breast cancer patient doctors perform a sentinel node biopsy after surgery to remove a tumor to determine if cancer has spread.

Until recently, to test for the presence of cancer, nearly all the lymph nodes were routinely removed during an axillary breast dissection. This procedure sometimes results in complications such as lymphedema, a condition of persistent swelling, decreased limb function and chronic infections or chronic pain, loss of motion, soreness, tingling or numbness in the arms. While these complications are not life threatening, they can have an impact on the quality of a patient’s life, according to information from JCH.[[In-content Ad]]