Many times surgeons have to work with breast cancer without being able to identify the area involved from outside, because the cancer is not palpable, and from the inside, when your breasts are opened through surgery, because the lesions are too small (up to 5 mm) to be visible only with mammography.
But how does the surgeon to reach the nodule if it is invisible? Currently the technique 'in use' is to leave a wire inside, inserted into the problem area, applied under radiographic control. But in this case the intervention of the radiologist and the surgeon must be contextual, otherwise the woman is forced to return home with the needle sticking in out of her breast, with obvious consequences. The new solution looks like a breast cancer tattoo.
To eliminate these drawbacks, researchers in breast cancer studies have developed a marking technique which consists in coloring the suspicious lesion to make it visible. For this operation, the specialist uses charcoal, which replaces the methylene blue ink used in the past, which, however, caused more damage than it caused benefits. The technique, invented in Sweden twenty years ago and fallen into oblivion (except for isolated experiences), has been recently resurrected.
Under ultrasound guidance a needle is placed in the vicinity of cancer cells, more specifically, with the tip in front of the cells. Then the needle injects a certain quantity of a solution of coal, which is evident in the surgical intervention as a dark spot. After that the needle is slowly releasing simultaneously, as it is extracted, another dye, which produces a colored trail throughout the breast. With the needle extracted, the coal will remain a small mark on the skin and there will be a "path" inside that the surgeon can follow up to the colored spot.
The surgeon, during the intervention, follows the colored dot and a route until they reach the suspect lesion. When the surgeon has managed to bring the scalpel in front of the colored spots, they must not simply remove a portion of the breast, but to make sure if there is any more color behind the big blot, which helps remove the entire tumor.
The results were positive in 98 percent of cases. When the woman can feel a lump in her breast, she starts becoming anxious because she knows that it will not be easy to reach a diagnosis quickly. In fact, before the woman has been seen by a doctor, she must face the queues for exams and wait for the diagnosis, situations which increase the state is anxiety up to the point of anguish. This state of anguish is diminished by the occurrence of a more “cut and dry” solution to the cancer problem, and the psychological impact of a simple solution to a potentially huge problem is not something to be taken lightly.