Magtrace receives official SLNB recommendation from Sweden’s MTP Council
In the latest significant milestone for the Magtrace® lymphatic tracer, the Swedish Medical Technologies Product (MTP) Council has published its official recommendation for use of the tracer in all breast sentinel lymph node biopsy procedures.
The MTP Council acknowledged the advantages of switching to Magtrace, in particular eliminating the reliance on nuclear medicine and logistical advantages, while maintaining clinical equivalence to the current ‘gold standard’ for breast cancer staging.
The recommendation also highlighted that the current ‘gold standard’ method for SLNB, using radioactive tracers alongside a blue dye, could be vulnerable to situations where there is ‘a lack of radioactive substances needed for scintigraphy’.
Within the report, it notes that switching to Magtrace can avoid events such as the 2022 technetium-99m supply shortage, which affected a significant number of European countries towards the end of 2022.
It also referenced the growing list of bodies recognising Magtrace as a viable alternative to radioactive and blue dye tracers - most notably the NICE guidance recommendation from 2022, which published similar conclusions, following analysis of 36 clinical studies.
“The importance of innovating in breast cancer surgery cannot be understated. Technologies such as Magtrace are revolutionary to our practice and improving outcomes for our breast cancer patients. Dr Andreas Karakatsanis of Uppsala University Hospital (Akademiska)
Reaction from Sweden
One of Sweden’s first surgeons to adopt Magtrace was Dr Andreas Karakatsanis of Uppsala University Hospital (Akademiska), who has since gone on to demonstrate a number of further benefits to switching.
Most notably, it has provided the opportunity to perform the Delayed SLNB technique, unique to Magtrace and pioneered in Uppsala, which has proven to reduce unnecessary axillary surgery and provide cost savings to hospitals.
Dr Karakatsanis explained how he believes that this recommendation is great news for breast cancer surgery, and will benefit both clinicians and patients.
“When you combine this MTP recommendation with the vast amount of clinical data showing that Magtrace can actually help to de-escalate surgery for many patients, I think there’s never been a better time for centres to start seriously thinking about adopting this technology.”
The MTP framework, launched in 2020, supports regions to collaborate in managing the national introduction of innovative medical technologies into the Swedish healthcare system.