For years, the days leading up to lumpectomy day would be extremely stressful and challenging for patients with breast cancer, but with SLMHC’s most recent purchase, a part of the pressure has been removed.  

The Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre (SLMHC) announced on October 19, 2021, the purchase and use of the new Endomag system – a game-changer for breast cancer patients.  

“Compared to a conventional procedure known as wire localization before breast surgery, our newly purchased Endomag system allows the diagnostic imaging department to precisely mark the sites of lesions and tumours in a highly accurate method that can occur at the time of biopsy, which eliminates the need for additional procedures to occur immediately before the surgical intervention,” explains Dr. Neety Panu, lead radiologist at SLMHC. 

This cutting-edge technology is not only a big step for SLMHC, but it is an important step for making sure this kind of technology is available to more Canadians, especially Canadians living in rural and remote communities.  

SLMHC is now the first hospital in northwestern Ontario, and one of only two rural hospitals in Canada, to adopt this technology.  

“We could be at the forefront here with this technology, as many smaller hospitals like ours experience logistical challenges for breast cancer patients,” explains Dr. Justin Poling, a surgeon at SLMHC.  

“There are hundreds of hospitals like ours who I think we could be a really good example for, and this technology has potential to be game-changing for Canada’s geographically-distributed population,” continued Dr. Poling.  

The Endomag system process starts with a tiny Magseed marker, that is easily placed by the radiologist before the surgery. Ideally, it is placed at the time of biopsy so that the patient requires only one visit/procedure before surgery to mark the exact site of breast cancer.   

Once placed, it can’t be broken or dislodged in any way, and it is detectable using a Sentimag probe. The use of Magseed markers at SLMHC provides patients with more accurate placement of a detector pre-surgically that enables a more seamless transition to their surgical care, and for a better outcome post-surgically. 

“If a lesion or area of concern is spotted and surgery is recommended, in the past a patient would be booked for when the radiologist would be on-site for the localizer wire insertion. Because the wire could come loose or be dislodged, the timing between the wire insertion and surgery needed to be the same day,” explains DeAnna Lance, medical radiation technologist at SLMHC.  

Lance continued “this meant that all our breast surgery patients would be booked ahead to meet the schedule that resulted in coordination between two very busy radiology and surgical departments.  Now, with the Magseed technology, the radiologist can implant the Magseed at any time and it will stay there until it is surgically removed. This means we can have patients have their biopsies/Magseed placement independent of the schedules of departments and this removes a big hurdle in logistical care for the patient.” 

Previously, patients might have had to drive to Thunder Bay and back all within a short timeframe, this new technology will eliminate that stress. 

“It frees us up with regards to a lot of scheduling challenges,” said Dr. Poling.  

“It makes us less dependent on the time frame. Not only that but there are so many other benefits to our patients, including a lot less travel and stress. A patient might have had to drive to Thunder Bay to get a radioactive tracker injected at the end of the day, then once injected they’d have to drive back right away since we would only have 12-18 hours to operate after that injection. In the middle of winter, driving on a dark highway at night and worrying about your surgery the next morning… this was stressful for our patients,” added Dr. Poling 

The use of Magseed markers at SLMHC was made possible through the generous support of the SLMHC Foundation, who provided approximately $95,000 in funding after the SLMHC team sent their proposal in for the equipment request this past summer. 

“The breast imaging department and patients are truly grateful for the SLMHC Foundation in bringing this new technology to our region,” adds Lance.  “We can improve the efficiency and decrease the time delays of patients requiring surgical removal of suspicious or cancerous breast lesions.” 

Heather Lee, President and CEO of SLMHC said “We’re excited to be a part of something so innovative and providing better care, closer to home.” 

SLCHS announced that after many trials and training sessions, the new technology is already in use for breast cancer patients.