Duarte, Calif.-based City of Hope will open the first multicenter clinical trial in the U.S. to test robotically assisted mastectomies, according to an Oct. 3 news release shared with Becker's.
The robotic technology makes a single incision, making the procedure less invasive than typical procedures, according to the press release.
"City of Hope is once again taking the lead in investigating innovations, treatments and therapies that are making big leaps forward for patients with cancer. We're participating in what we believe is a groundbreaking clinical trial that we hope will simultaneously result in the best possible aesthetic outcome," Jennifer Tseng, MD, lead investigator for the trial and the medical director of breast surgery at City of Hope Orange County, stated in the release.
Surgeons at the City of Hope have already led hundreds of thousands of non-mastectomy robotic procedures. If the clinical trial results are favorable, this new mastectomy surgery could be an option for patients in the future, according to the release.
Patients with early stage breast cancer are eligible for the clinical trial where half of the participants will undergo the robotically assisted mastectomy and the other half will be given traditional open nipple-sparing surgery.