Analysis of Breast Cancer Using a Magnetic Marker Liquid

Women with invasive breast cancer in the UK will now be injected with a magnetic marker liquid that will help surgeons to find out to what extent the cancer has spread, according to a recommendation from government health advisers shared on May 17th.

The substance, called Magtrace, has been shown to locate the presence of sentinel lymph nodes, which show whether the cancer has progressed beyond the breast or not.

‘According to the WHO, 2.3 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by 2020 alone. Worldwide, 6,85,000 people died of breast cancer that year.’

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.3 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by 2020 alone. Worldwide, 6,85,000 people died of breast cancer that year. WHO estimates that by the end of 2020, 7.8 million women will be living with breast cancer in the five years before that.

"Approximately half of breast cancers develop in women who have no identifiable breast cancer risk factor other than gender (female) and age (over 40 years). Certain factors increase the risk of breast cancer including increasing age, obesity, harmful use of alcohol, family history of breast cancer, history of radiation exposure, reproductive history (such as age that menstrual periods began and age at first pregnancy), tobacco use and postmenopausal hormone therapy," says WHO.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which advises ministers and the UK's National Health Service (NHS) on which treatments represent good value for money in England and Wales, has issued preliminary guidance supporting the use of Magtrace in conjunction with a probe called Sentimag.

Magtrace and Sentimag: Boon for Women

Magtrace is a non-radioactive brown liquid that acts as a magnetic marker and as a visual dye. It is injected into the tissues surrounding the cancerous tumor in the breast. When the particles are absorbed into the lymphatic system and the cancer cells spread from the original site of the disease and become entangled in the sentinel lymph nodes, they often follow the same route.

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Once inside the patient, its progress is monitored by a Sentimag probe. Just as a metal detector detects metal objects on the ground, it emits sounds of different pitches as it moves over the skin as it passes through the Magtrace.

Once the sentinel lymph node is found, surgeons remove it and perform a biopsy, during which the pathologist checks for signs of cancer. If so, they may need further surgery to remove excess lymph nodes.

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The use of the Sentimag probe is included in the draft guidelines recommended for the NHS. NICE has suggested this procedure as an alternative to the current way of diagnosing breast cancer, which involves the ingestion of radioactive isotopes and blue dye.

“People with breast cancer want to know if their cancer has been isolated or has spread to the rest of their body. The earlier this is established, the better the potential outcomes will be,” said Jeanette Kusel, NICE’s acting director for medical technology and digital.

Surgeons working in hospitals with limited or no access to the field of radiopharmacy can now use Magtrace and Sentimag as an option to detect sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer patients.

The procedure can also be done on an outpatient basis or require a short stay in the hospital, unlike current treatment where hospitals must have daily radioisotope or nuclear medical personnel.

Also, Magtrace can be injected 20 minutes before the biopsy or up to 30 days before surgery. This means that people may be injected at a preoperative meeting.

The agency said that adoption of the system would help the NHS reduce its reliance on imported radioactive isotopes and enable any hospital to offer it, not just those with nuclear medicine facilities to use isotopes, which may make care more convenient for patients.

UK Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid acknowledged and welcomed NICE’s decision. “This promising research could provide a new tool for our scientists to track and slow the spread of breast cancer, the most common cancer in the UK.”

“We are always on the lookout for innovative treatments to speed up diagnosis and improve survival rates and we will outline more in our 10-year cancer plan, due this summer.”

But NICE warned that Magtrace could create side effects and adverse events. These include the possibility of staining of the patient's skin and future MRI scans, and "the use of Magtrace should be carefully considered in individuals requiring follow-up of MRI studies."

Source-Medindia