Women undergoing breast cancer surgery can now have results within 30 minutes that show the extent of their cancer, enabling doctors to decide whether further surgery is needed before the patient wakes up.
The new technique is performed using an OSNA machine (one step nucleic acid amplification) and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) has the only one operating in Australia.
Professor Owen Ung from the RBWH said the machine provided quicker and more accurate diagnoses than previous methods used.
“If we know at the time of surgery that the lymph node has cancer cells in it then we can proceed on, and do the necessary surgery then and there, while the patient is asleep on the table, and they will wake up and have their procedure completed,” he said.
About 300 women undergo breast cancer surgery at the RBWH each year.
Thirty per cent of those will have cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes in the armpit and 20 per cent of those cases will require further surgery.
Professor Ung said the OSNA machine enabled surgeons to learn whether the cancer had spread and make that decision in the one operation, instead of waiting weeks for further testing and then seeing women readmitted.
"[It's] a huge psychological benefit because they only have to be admitted once and for most people, surgery is not a small thing - it disrupts their whole life," he said.
"Every readmission is a trauma for a patient, so if we can reduce the number of times they need to be admitted that's a benefit."
Test has 95 to 99 per cent accuracy rate
Professor Sunil Lakhani, state director of anatomical pathology at Pathology Queensland, said traditional testing was limited because it used only a thin section of the lymph gland, which meant undetected cancer might be present in other sections.
"The advantage of this test is that that whole lymph gland is mashed up and goes into the machine and is tested," he said.
