On August 8, 2024, the Town of Ajax got a behind-the-scenes look at the surgical program when they visited to check out the new small hand-held instrument used to find sentinel lymph nodes that their Partnership Grants program helped fund.
This piece of equipment might be small and relatively modest-looking but it is incredibly important in certain cancer cases, including breast, as it helps determine if the cancer has spread.
A sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node in a chain or group of lymph nodes that cancer is most likely to spread to.
In the procedure, a tracer material is used to help the surgeon find the sentinel lymph node(s) during surgery. The sentinel lymph node is removed and tested in the lab.
If the sentinel lymph node is free of cancer, then the cancer probably hasn’t spread. This means that removing additional (or all) lymph nodes is not necessary and more surgery might not be needed.
Thank you to the Town of Ajax for helping ensure our hospital is continuing to provide great health care, close to home.
