23/10/2025
The faxitron machine is an intra-operative xray machine that takes xray of the surgical specimen to allow the surgeon a quick assessment to ensure the tumour they aim to remove has been removed accurately.
Many tumours these days are diagnosed in their early stages and are often impalpable. Surgeons can use different localization techniques eg Hook-wires, ROL (radio-occult guided), Scout, Magseed , Iodine seed etc with the aim to remove the tumour (with the localizer) at the time of surgery.
Accurate surgery is important as it means less re-excisional surgery, less need for a mastectomy and higher chance of breast conserving surgery.
Not all tumors are visible on xrays, but seeing the clip used in the initial core biopsy sampling is also a good indicator that the lesion has been removed.
Hope this helps everyone to understand a bit of what us breast surgeons do đ
âOne accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinionsâ - Grace Hopper
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