The scar tissue that traditionally forms after breast cancer surgery makes it challenging for radiologists to see early signs of breast cancer reoccurrence, but a new device called BioZorb could make that process much easier.

BioZorb is a small coil with six titanium clips arranged in a 3-D pattern that is implanted into the breast by the surgeon when the tumor is being removed. The 3-D pattern marks the tumor site and the coil is dissolved over time as the breast tissue heals.

“As a radiologist, this is one of our biggest challenges, because it's hard to know exactly where the tumor was, and scar tissue can hide things or look just like cancer,” Dr. Steven Harms, radiologist at the Mana Breast Center of Northwest Arkansas, said in a statement.
The 3-D shape of BioZorb helps to preserve the contour of the breast and healthy tissue grows into the area where the surgery was done. As a result, there is much less scarring and the healthy tissue looks just like normal tissue on mammograms.

Breast cancer surgery is usually followed by radiation therapy to treat any cancer cells that may have been left behind. Hypofractionated radiation treatments can typically be given over three to five weeks, compared to five to seven weeks that standard radiation therapy requires.

Dr. Michael Cross of Breast Treatment Associates, and his colleagues at Highlands Oncology Group, collected three years of data on the use of BioZorb. In total, they evaluated the experience of 109 patients who underwent radiation therapy.

They found that BioZorb could effectively be used to help plan and target radiation treatments done after surgery. They also found that it contributed to 25 percent in cost savings per patient.

"This device helps us provide shorter courses of radiation, which means less travel and time commitment for patients, and is therefore much more convenient for them," said Cross.

They were able to perform shorter courses of radiation treatment because the device gave them more confidence about the accuracy of where the radiation beam in each dose “fraction” should be aimed, especially for partial breast or boost treatments.

The results will be presented at the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco this weekend.

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