Non-invasive localisation of breast lesions for surgical planning

A research group from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) has participated in the development of a new technique based on medical imaging which makes it possible to non-invasively estimate the location of a tumour in the surgical position required for breast cancer surgery. To overcome the limitations of preoperative localisation techniques used for the treatment of breast cancer, researchers from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and CIBER-BBN - with the collaboration of the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital, the HM Sanchinarro Hospital and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) - have developed a new method that makes it possible to determine the location of the tumor in the so-called surgical position, that is, the one that the surgeon needs to know before the surgery. This new technique may provide an alternative or complementary methodology to the current preoperative localisation methods since, unlike them, it doesn't require prior surgery. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women worldwide. In 2020, 2.3 million new cases were diagnosed, which represents around a quarter of all cancers in women. Improvements in radiological diagnosis and early detection programmes have increased the identification of non-palpable breast lesions for which the treatment is conservative surgery. The aim of conservative surgery is to remove the tumour and a small margin of tissue around it, to maintain the breast's overall shape.