Phase I: real-time electromagnetic navigation technology for breast cancer surgery

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Breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women during their lives and is the second-leading cause of female cancer related deaths. The ideal treatment is breast conservation surgery during its early stage to remove the cancer while conserving healthy parts of the breast. Unfortunately, with the current resection methods residual tumor often remains and is linked with a high probability of recurrence, requiring repeat surgery. Repeat surgery often requires mastectomy, a traumatic experience for a patient who expected a curative treatment with breast-conservation. On average, one out of every three or four women undergoing breast-conservation surgery needs at least one additional surgery due to positive margins. Repeat surgeries lead to increased risk of postoperative complications, delaying radiation therapy, increased psychological distress, and risks associated with a second general anesthesia. Through development of a novel real-time electromagnetic navigation system, we intend to improve the accuracy of the initial surgery, significantly reducing the number of repeat surgeries for breast cancer patients. We expect to improve quality of life for these patients and decreased the cost of health care in Canada.