ME & MY OPERATION: Magnetic seeds that makes breast cancer surgery less risky

• Countless breast cancer patients could benefit from the use of a magnetic seed 
• Elizabeth Cozens, 78, a retired administrator from Manchester, is prime example 
• She had one of the implants fitted before her undergoing surgery in September

Patient: Elizabeth Cozens, 78, a retired administrator from Manchester, had cancer

THE PATIENT

When a letter arrived in July, asking me to go to a breast screening, I was surprised — mammograms aren’t routinely offered to over-70s.

As it turned out, there had been an error with the national screening programme and I was one of thousands who hadn’t received an invitation for my final screening at around age 70.

Ten days after the screening, I received another letter, inviting me to have a biopsy on my right breast, where they then found a tiny lump was cancerous.

I was shocked. Though I had been self-checking, this lump was so small — 12 mm — that I wouldn’t have felt it.

My consultant, James Harvey, said he could remove it, along with a small margin of healthy tissue, and I wouldn’t need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Thankfully, it hadn’t spread.

Mr Harvey explained that they put a marker into the tumour before the operation to make it easier to find. This was traditionally done by putting a long wire into the breast on the day of surgery, using a mammogram X-ray or ultrasound to help direct it.