The Alberta Cancer Foundation, along with the Calgary Health Foundation have recently announced $5.7 million towards a new preliminary breast cancer surgery procedure.
The new project is promising Albertans the ability to have cancer surgery which has a more breast-preserving impact.
Murray Sigler, President and CEO, Calgary Health Foundation, said the Sentimag Project is a new program that is putting women’s health first.
“Of the many health challenges facing our city, one that has been identified by our community and donors as a priority is women’s health,” Sigler said.
“Women’s health is under-funded, under-researched and under-addressed. Projects such as Sentimag, which helped to bring women’s health to the forefront, are significant. We know they will have a far-reaching impact.”
The Sentimag Project contains a small, magnetic rice-shaped seed called Magseed made from surgical-grade stainless steel. The seed can be inserted into the breast at the tumour site for months, weeks, or even at the time of the biopsy before the surgery. Once it’s time for surgery, and the patient is under anesthesia, the surgeon will inject a magnetic liquid called Magtrace which will work with the Magseed to locate the tumours.
“By bringing this new innovation to the women facing cancer today, like new chemotherapies and immunotherapies that improve the lives of our cancer patients, this new technology will make the journey, which is already difficult, smoother, and easier for patients, better for providers like myself and better for the system,” said Dr. May Lynn Quan, Medical Director of the Calgary Breast Health Program, Scientific Director of SPHERE (Strategies for Precision Health in Breast Cancer), general surgery site lead at the Foothills Medical Centre.
The Sentimag Project allows the patient to skip the procedure of having a small wire and painful radioactive liquid injected into the breast before the surgery.
“A magnetic seed which is inert, safe, it’s not as painful and doesn’t stick out of the breast. It can be placed at any time from the time that we identify the tumour as early as the time that a biopsy is given, and we believe that it’s cancer,” Quan said.
Magseed is a product of the company Endomag, the company was founded from research by the University of Houston and University College London in 2007.
The pilot project funding is scheduled for three years and according to Dr. Quan, patients can expect the treatment by the start of summer this year.
