Humpday Health: Cancer patient says new technology made her treatment easier

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A cancer diagnosis can be terrifying, but for one Wilmington woman technology made her recovery better than she ever expected.

“Well they call you to come in for a second mammogram, you know right after the first one and I guess I didn’t really react then, because I’d had that happen before,” said Julie Benton, a breast cancer survivor. “I didn’t have any cancer ever in my family so it was still a total shock when I was there for the biopsy and Dr. Bebb said, “Well you have breast cancer.”

And that’s where Dr. Gregory Bebb and the BioZorb come in.

“It is placed into the cavity that’s created when we remove a tumor with what’s called a lumpectomy,” said Bebb.

Dr. Bebb said the spiral shaped BioZorb does several things for a patient.

“One of them is to make it look better cosmetically,” said Bebb.

He said the device preserves the space so the body can naturally fill it back in over time after treatment. Plus the BioZorb dissolves in time too.

“The second advantage of placing the device is it does allow the radiation doctor, who follows in most cases a lumpectomy patient with about a month course of radiation, it allows him to focus his radiation better to where the tumor was actually removed,” Bebb said.

He said in some cases, the device can even reduce the amount of radiation a patient gets. He encourages people to get checked.

“I still believe in self breast exams, though that’s become a little bit of a point of controversy as well. I would say still a third of my patients are finding their own breast cancers,” Bebb said.

Now Burton is back to playing golf and doing the things she loves, but she said she’ll never miss having her annual mammogram.

“I know there’s publicity about the guidelines for having mammography changing but I certainly would never miss having one every year. And I hope that all the women that I know will also do that,” Burton said.