Dr. Kandace McGuire, chief of breast surgery at VCU Massey Cancer Center, believes medicine and innovation go hand-in-hand.
“Medicine is all about innovation and finding better ways to treat people or keep them healthy if they don’t have a disease,” she said.
With that goal in mind, Massey recently announced that it is the first facility in Virginia to use a substance called Magtrace to help save breast cancer patients’ lymph nodes. Magtrace is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
McGuire said saving the lymph nodes, when possible, can reduce a patient’s risk of developing Lymphedema, a build-up of fluid in soft body tissues commonly caused by lymph node removal associated with breast cancer surgery.
“Once you have lymphedema, it doesn’t go away,” she said. “Anything we can do to prevent it; we want to do.”
Magtrace, McGuire said, is made of iron oxide nanoparticles and acts as a form of sentinel lymph node mapping dye that doctors can use when a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer. The substance has unique properties that allow the patient’s nodes to remain safely in the body while doctors determine whether the cancer is invasive.
“When a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer, we always want to know, ‘Has it gone someplace else in the body?’” she said. “The first place breast cancer typically goes is to the lymph nodes under the armpit on the same side.”
Magtrace helps make removing lymph nodes avoidable, McGuire said, because its molecules are larger than other dyes used for the same purpose. Magtrace remains in the lymph nodes for longer, allowing doctors to study the pathology report from the removed breast tissue to decide whether or not they need to biopsy the sentinel nodes.
“We were very interested in using (Magtrace), not only because of this, but also the lack of radiation associated with it,” she said. “Some of the more traditional dyes can cause severe allergic reactions, and this does not.”
McGuire said the medical use of Magtrace for breast cancer patients was made possible by a European researcher.
“We have this dye we’re using for other reasons, but it’s got this really cool aspect to it that we can use to improve patients’ lives,” she said.
McGuire said one of the first patients she treated with Magtrace was a young mom and tennis player who was devastated when she realized that she needed a mastectomy. In addition to the loss of her breast, the woman was even more concerned about the risk of lymphedema.
“She was so thankful that we were able to preserve her lymph nodes,” McGuire said. “I have seen breast cancer go from a difficult-to-survive cancer to an easier-to-survive cancer because of innovation; Technology and innovation can help keep patients healthy and whole.”