Nathan Orlando
The standard of care for early stage breast cancer is what is known as breast conserving therapy (BCT). In this procedure, the patient undergoes a lumpectomy followed by some form of radiation, typically external beam radiation. Due to the duration of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), some patients choose to forgo it completely, especially patients with high travel times to the treatment site. An alternative to EBRT is permanent breast seed implantation (PBSI). In this procedure, needles are inserted to permanently implant radioactive seeds in the breast, reducing treatment time to a single session. With the current 2D ultrasound (US) guidance, this procedure is highly operator dependent, and thus very challenging to perform and not practical for widespread use. By developing a 3D US guidance system for breast brachytherapy, we hope to reduce PBSI operator dependence by improving needle visualization, improving needle placement accuracy, and providing information to modify the treatment plan intraoperatively. This will assist in making PBSI more viable for widespread use, allowing increased access to BCT, especially among rural patients.
