Dealing with breast cancer is an exceptionally challenging experience, both physically and emotionally. Undergoing surgery can be one of the most daunting parts, so imagine if you had to come back for an additional surgery. Unfortunately, this is a reality today for many breast cancer patients, with 1 in 5 who undergo breast conserving surgery requiring a repeat surgery. In the United States alone, this equates to a staggering 75,000 repeat breast surgeries every year.

In Grande Prairie, Canada, a passionate group of individuals personally impacted by breast cancer, decided to do something about it for their local community. They formed a fundraising group in early 2022 to purchase a MOZART® System, a 3D imaging machine that has been shown to cut the rate of repeat surgeries by up to a half. They named their group the Mozart Mission, and remarkably, in just under six months they raised over $275,000 CAD thanks to an outpouring of support.

Spokesperson Alison Bergsma says, “I had four repeat surgeries. It didn’t need to be that way. Having the MOZART® machine there in the surgical suite would have saved me from four additional surgeries. Four additional spots that I took away from somebody else’s loved one that needed surgery. Four times that I needed to tell my kids that I would be OK.”

The power of the MOZART® system lies in its ability to enable surgeons – during a surgery - to precisely see the margins of the tissue removed. This allows surgeons to better determine whether some cancer is still present in the breast (known as a “positive margin”), and therefore whether to remove more tissue or not. Without MOZART®, the surgeon might not get an accurate view of the margins until after the surgery, leading to a patient like Alison potentially being called back for a repeat surgery.

In June 2023, a new MOZART® system was installed at Grande Prairie Regional Hospital. One of the surgeons there, Dr. Marc Shaw, commented, “[The Mozart Mission] have done a huge service in preventing the need for additional surgery by allowing us [surgeons] to better assess cancer margins at the time of the original surgery. [Unlike] a single static picture, as you start to scroll down through the 3D layers, you can see where a margin may actually be close. [MOZART] has been utilized in over two dozen cases already, [and] has probably prevented a few cases of potentially positive margins that would have required additional surgery.”

The MOZART® system is made by KUBTEC, an innovative, woman-owned technology company, with a mission to enable precision surgery and improve outcomes for every patient. KUBTEC’s CEO, Vikram Butani, says, “What the Mozart Mission has achieved in such a short period of time is truly inspirational. It talks to the devastating impact of breast cancer, but also the hope that innovations such as MOZART® can bring. MOZART® systems are now installed in many top US cancer centers, and increasingly so in Europe, Asia and beyond. It is indeed exciting to see our goal for MOZART® - to be the standard for breast cancer surgery around the world - coming to fruition.”

For more information on the Mozart Mission - please visit their facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/themozartmission/

To find your nearest MOZART® system, learn more about the product or surgical margins, please visit www.repeatsurgery.com.

For press or product inquiries, please contact Richard Whelton at rwhelton@kubtec.com

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