Remote Control For New Breasts

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ( Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Each year about 100 thousand women with breast cancer will undergo a mastectomy. For those who elect reconstructive surgery, it can be a long, painful process. Now a remote control is changing that.

When Michele Stapleton found out she had breast cancer, the busy manicurist wasn’t too worried at first.

"and so I said, oh I’ll have a lumpectomy no big deal and they said no, the tumor was too large and that I’d have to have a mastectomy," Michele Stapleton, told Ivanhoe.

As a precaution the mother of two had both breasts removed. Her next step, reconstruction, but doctor Ankit Desai says the process can often be long and painful. There’s usually not enough skin to insert an implant after a mastectomy, so doctors have to stretch the patient’s tissue with an expander and inject saline into it.

"They have to have a needle that’s stuck through the skin. Sometimes that can cause some discomfort for patients," Ankit Desai, M.D., from the East Coast Institute for Research, explained.

As part of study, Michele is trying out a new tissue expander using a remote control. It allows patients to expand their breast tissue at their own pace in the comfort of their own home.

"I don’t like needles. I don’t like pain and if I can control what I do as far as how I expand, it was exciting to me," Michele said.

The remote control is placed against the expander and instead of saline injections carbon dioxide is released.

"And you press the button one time and that’s it. It’s delivered a dose," Dr. Desai said.

Patients go from weekly visits and injections for several months, to only having to come in twice and can be ready for breast implants in just weeks.

"You have control over it. That’s the glory of it," Dr. Desai said.

Giving people like Michele more time for what matters.

The study is actively recruiting all over the country for mastectomy patients planning to undergo breast reconstruction. For more information on the trial go to clinicaltrials.gov or call 408-559-7192 MORE

More Information

Click here for additional research on Remote Control for New Breasts

Click here for Ivanhoe's full-length interview with Dr. Ankit Desai

If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Andrew Mcintosh at amcintosh@ivanhoe.com