Breast cancer ‘metal detector’ recommended to NHS
pharmafile | May 17, 2022 | News story | Medical Communications |
A recommendation by the government’s health advisers have said that women with invasive breast cancer could be injected with a magnetic marker liquid to tell doctors if their disease has spread.
The substance is called Magtrace, and has been shown to locate the presence of sentinel lymph nodes, which show if the cancer has progressed beyond the breast. NICE has issued draft guidance endorsing the use of Magtrace in conjunction with a probe called Sentimag.
Magtrace is a non-radioactive brown liquid that acts as a magnetic marker and visual dye. It is injected into the tissue around a cancerous tumour in the breast. Particles are absorbed into the lymphatic system, follow the route that cancer cells are most likely to take when they spread from the original site of the disease, and become trapped in sentinel lymph nodes.
Once inside the patient, its progress is tracked using the Sentimag probe. It emits sounds of different pitches as it moves over the skin when it passes over the Magtrace, in a similar fashion to how a metal detector locates metal objects in the ground.
“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, acting director for medical technology and digital at NICE.
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “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.
“The NHS already screens more than two million women a year for breast cancer and offers a range of treatments, which have helped save thousands of lives and tackle the COVID-19 backlogs.
“We are always on the lookout for innovative treatments to speed up diagnosis and improve survival rates.”
Lina Adams
