Jefferson County Health Center has partnered with Endomag to bring innovative breast cancer technologies to Southeast Iowa, helping to improve the standard of care to the entire region.

The new technological offerings are Magseed and Magtrace, a localization marker and tracing agent. Both tools offer improved accuracy for the surgeon, and greater convenience for the patient. 

General Surgeon at JCHC Dr. Scott Stoeger explains, “Previously when we needed to localize a breast tumor, especially if they were small, the woman would have to come in and have a wire to place to help with localization. That constrained me as a surgeon because I was now limited in my location of where I can place my incision. By using the seed it eliminates the use of wires and I can place the incision either where it’s most convenient to get to the tumor or maybe where it would be most cosmetically appropriate to approach it. It would be a great benefit to any woman having surgery.”

In terms of the Magtrace, the old way was using a blue dye or a radiotracer, which is radioactive in the operating room. The Magtrace is actually iron that is injected and taken up by the lymph nodes, which eliminates the use of radioactivity.