CLEARWATER, Fla. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- A new test could save breast cancer patients the time and trouble of subsequent surgeries.

Breast cancer patient Jeanene Andrews treasures every moment she gets to spend with her two daughters. "I've always tried not to stress over the small things, and now it's even more so," she says.

Andrews underwent chemotherapy and radiation, but first she had to have surgery. "It's the scariest thing that's ever happened to me," she says. During the surgery, doctors mapped out, removed, and tested her lymph nodes. They used a test called "frozen section," which requires five percent of the lymph node to be tested for cancer. Andrews' results were negative, but Peter Blumencranz, M.D., a surgical oncologist at Morton Plant Mease Health Care in Clearwater, Fla., says the standard test doesn't always spot cancer in the lymph nodes. In fact, many women like Andrews have to come back for a second surgery.

"To have to do it all over again was terrible," Andrews says.

Now experts say a new test, called the Gene Search Breast Lymph Node Assay, could change all that. "It's the first of its kind," Dr. Blumencranz says. "It's a molecular biological test that can be done intra-operatively."
 
The test identifies cancer markers in 50 percent of the node and can be done in 40 minutes. A new study reports it has a 10 percent greater sensitivity than frozen section when it comes to finding cancer. "This would serve both to decrease re-operation and hopefully diagnose disease when it's there more accurately," Dr. Blumencranz says.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Amy Morrow
Morton Plant Mease Healthcare
1240 S. Fort Harrison, MS 114
Clearwater, FL 33756  
amy.morrow@baycare.org