URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) – There’s groundbreaking news in the fight against breast cancer, and it’s coming from right here in central Illinois.

Researchers from the Carle Illinois College of Medicine are creating a clip that’s the size of a grain of rice. It will ultimately help doctors take out tumors.

It’s called a Radiological Clip. Doctors go in and put them on each tumor so they can monitor each one and know where they are

This form of technology is used right now, but when the tumors shrink with chemotherapy, it’s hard for them to find those clips again. Resulting in not being able to remove where the tumors were, or not getting all of it.

These new clips will let doctors see them with an ultrasound, and even hear them when they’re going to remove it. That makes it easier to find and get all of the cancer and tissue out.

“It could really benefit and impact patient care in cancer, improve surgical outcomes, and the ability to find these things,” Michael Oelze, a health innovation professor for the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, said.

“I think there’s always going to be room for improvements, and it’s a nice feeling to be on the leading edge of that,” Jenna Cario, a graduate student working on the experiment, said.

Right now they are working to figure out how to shrink the technology. They said this can be used for other cancers, but breast cancer is where it will primarily be used.