PRECISE TARGETING OF BREAST TUMORS

The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood was the first hospital in North Jersey to offer breast seed localization, a more accurate and patient-friendly procedure to pinpoint and remove small benign and cancerous breast tumors or abnormal breast tissue. A radiologist injects a low-energy radioactive “seed” the size of a grain of rice into the breast tissue to mark the exact location of the tumor or abnormal tissue. In the operating room, the breast surgeon uses a handheld gamma detection probe to locate and remove both the seed and the abnormal breast tissue. “Once the seed is removed with the breast tissue, all radioactivity is eliminated,” says Dr. Laura Klein, medical director of The Valley Hospital Breast Center. Breast seed localization, in many cases, may replace the need for wire localization – a procedure that involves inserting a guide wire into the breast several hours prior to surgery, leaving the wire protruding from the skin until removal in the operating room. “We can place the seed the day before, o

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