Wireless technology helps breast surgeons operate with more precision

It may be tiny, but the SAVI SCOUT allows breast surgeons to remove tissue faster and more precisely

There’s new technology available to breast surgeons that helps them scout out tumors more quickly and precisely. It’s called SAVI SCOUT, a radar localization system that helps surgeons locate and remove breast tumors during surgery.

When a tumor is discovered through imaging, and it’s decided you need surgery, traditionally you’d get what’s called breast needle localization. Typically, the patient would come day of surgery and have a thread-like wire inserted into the breast through a needle during mammogram or ultrasound, explains Pattie Barnes, mammographer at St. Joseph’s Hospital. The needle would be placed close to the area of concern and the surgeon uses it as a guide for removing the tumor.

Now, breast surgeons at Candler Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital have the option to use SAVI SCOUT.

“Basically, there is a tiny, non-toxic radar clip that is placed by the radiologist when an area in the breast or under the arm needs to be localized for surgical removal,” explains Dr. Catherine Ronaghan, medical director of Telfair Breast Surgery at St. Joseph’s/Candler. “The clip emits a tiny radar signal. We have a radar detector in the OR, which allows us to preciously localize the area we need to remove.”

The clip is smaller than a grain of rice, but with the radar detector, the breast surgeon can find it quickly, often through a smaller incision with the potential of disturbing less tissue.

“It’s faster and more precise,” Dr. Ronaghan says. “Which means less operative time and a potential lower incidence of lymphedema.”

SAVI SCOUT can be placed before surgery, even if a patient has neoadjuvant chemotherapy, meaning chemotherapy before surgery, Barnes adds. But don’t worry. You will not be walking around beeping all the time.

“It doesn’t give off that signal until the probe is used during surgery to detect the SAVI SCOUT,” Barnes says. “The closer the breast surgeon gets to the clip the louder the beeping is.”

The procedure to place SAVI SCOUT is minimally-invasive. The radiologist will clean the area of the breast or under the arm, numb the area, and then using ultrasound guidance, insert the clip through a one-time, tiny incision, Barnes explains. Two images will then be taken to ensure the clip is where it needs to be.

“It’s a great tool available so patients don’t have to have that needle anymore,” Barnes says. “We are doing it every day, sometimes multiple times a day.”