Biozorb allows precise delivery of radiotherapy

Focal Therapeutics' BioZorb is a 3D surgical marker, developed in 2014, which helps radiation oncologists to target radiation treatment for breast cancer

BioZorb’s open-spiral design incorporates six permanent titanium clips in a fixed 3D array and provides landmarks at the site of a tumour after it has been surgically removed.

BioZorb is used to aid radiation treatment planning, patient positioning, and is compatible with advanced radiation treatment techniques. It is made of a bioabsorbable material and allows the patient’s body to absorb the material slowly so it does not require surgical removal after treatments are completed.

Breast cancer radiologist Steven Harms appeared at the Breast Cancer Symposium to report BioZorb’s post-surgical advantages when inserted during lumpectomy surgery.

Harms said: "After a surgery is performed to remove a breast cancer tumour, scar tissue can make it very difficult for us to see early signs that might indicate that breast cancer has returned.

"In the patients we studied who had the marker implanted, I was pleasantly surprised when I viewed the mammograms after surgery. The device seems to provide a mechanism to assist the growth of healthy tissue, and we can clearly see the difference on the follow-up mammograms.

“I have to admit, these findings were unexpected. But as a radiologist, this is very exciting since the marker has made it easier for us to monitor these patients."

Dr. Harms' research has been presented at the international 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco, in a scientific poster titled "Mammographic imaging after partial breast reconstruction: Impact of a bioabsorbable breast implant."