A surgical team at Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Health became the first in the U.S. to use intraoperative PET-CT imaging to successfully resect a breast cancer mass.
The procedure was led by Denise Garcia, MD, assistant professor of surgery in the division of surgical oncology and endocrine surgery, according to a June 30 news release from Vanderbilt Health.
“During surgery, the patient receives a dose of a radioactive agent that illuminates the cancer tissue in the scanner,” the release said. “It is placed in a specialized mobile PET-CT scanner […] providing surgical teams with a real-time view and allowing them to quickly determine if the entire cancerous mass was removed.”
Surgeons can continue or conclude the procedure based on the imaging, eliminating the need for pathology results or follow-up surgery.
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