A Multi-institutional Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness and Safety of a Supine MRI-Based Guidance System, the Breast Cancer Locator, for Breast Conserving Surgery in Patients with Nonpalpable Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND

The Breast Cancer Locator (BCL) has been demonstrated to be a safe and effective guidance system for breast-conserving surgery (BCS) in patients with palpable breast cancer, but its effectiveness in patients with nonpalpable breast cancer has not been evaluated.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Supine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images were used to generate (1) an interactive three-dimensional (3D) virtual image of the tumor in the breast and (2) a plastic bra-like form (BCL) that enabled the surgeon to place wires that bracketed the tumor volume. The primary objective was to determine the proportion of patients undergoing margin negative resections.

RESULTS

A total of 35 subjects were enrolled at 5 sites by 9 surgeons. In the 33 patients treated per protocol, 31 had margin negative resections (94%). All 31 patients with negative margins had negative margins on the primary lumpectomy specimen resected with BCL guidance. Additional shave margins were taken in 4 of the 31 patients; no cancer was present in the shaves. A total of 25 patients had invasive ductal carcinoma, 7 invasive lobular carcinoma, and 3 ductal carcinoma en situ (DCIS). The mean tumor diameter was 3.1 cm and specimen volume was 56 ml. The median actual/targeted specimen volume ratio was 1.18. There was no significant difference in preop versus postop Breast-Q scores: 66.5 versus 64.0, p = 0.58. Surgeons judged the BCL guidance system to be easy to use in 91% of cases.

CONCLUSIONS

The BCL guidance system enabled surgeons to do precise BCS: margin negative resections were obtained in a high proportion of cases, resected specimen volumes were relatively low, and patients' satisfaction with their breasts was not adversely effected by surgery.