{"id":281805,"date":"2026-02-09T07:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T07:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/281805\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T07:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T07:12:07","slug":"new-tool-detects-early-signs-of-infections-arising-from-breast-cancer-reconstruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/281805\/","title":{"rendered":"New tool detects early signs of infections arising from breast cancer reconstruction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Original story from Washington University in St. Louis<\/a><\/p>\n

Novel approach spots early signs of infection after breast cancer reconstruction.<\/p>\n

A team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (MO, USA)<\/a> have developed a tool to detect infections early among patients who have had breast reconstruction after cancer, potentially allowing for preemptive treatment that preserves implants, improves outcomes and reduces the emotional and financial burden on patients.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., one in eight women will get breast cancer in their lifetime, and about half of them will have mastectomies. Many of those women opt to have their breasts surgically reconstructed, most commonly with implants, but a relatively high percentage develop infections after implant surgery, requiring intravenous antibiotics and often removal of the implant. This can lead to additional surgeries, delays in cancer care and increased costs, as well as added emotional distress for women already under strain from cancer diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n

To address this problem, researchers have developed a new tool to detect reconstruction-related infections early, before they cause symptoms. This could allow for preemptive treatment that preserves implants, improves patient outcomes and reduces the psychological and financial burden on patients.<\/p>\n

Led by\u00a0Jeffrey P. Henderson, MD, PhD<\/a>, a professor in the WashU Medicine John T. Milliken Department of Medicine, the study identified biomarkers of infection in fluid drained from reconstruction patients\u2019 breasts days or even weeks before symptoms appeared. This represents a major opportunity for improvement over existing diagnostic methods, which rely heavily on clinical symptoms, such as redness and inflammation, that take time to appear and can overlap with normal reactions to surgery.<\/p>\n

The findings are available online and will publish in print Feb. 16 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to identify with a molecular signature early on that a patient will go on to have an infection opens up the possibility of surveillance as part of standard care,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cThis has the potential to enable earlier treatment that would be far more effective \u2014 and potentially curative \u2014 in patients who would otherwise progress to prolonged courses of treatment and surgery, or even implant removal and reconstructive failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small molecules, big impact<\/p>\n

The study originated when Henderson\u2019s WashU Medicine colleague\u00a0Margaret A. Olsen, PhD<\/a>, a retired professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases who studies hospital infections, noticed high rates of infection among U.S. patients who had reconstruction with implants after mastectomy. The discovery prompted Henderson and Olsen, a coauthor on the study, to ask WashU Medicine plastic surgeons who performed breast reconstruction what they would need to improve outcomes in these patients. Their answer was simple: a clear yes\/no test for infection.<\/p>\n

To develop such a test, Henderson and lead author\u00a0John A. Wildenthal<\/a>, an MD\/PhD student in\u00a0WashU Medicine\u2019s Medical Scientist Training Program<\/a>, leveraged their expertise in metabolomics, the study of small molecules called metabolites that are created or broken down during cellular processes in the body. Metabolites can indicate the presence of an infection because they include byproducts of both the body\u2019s response to pathogens and the metabolic activity of the pathogens themselves. By analyzing changes in metabolite levels, scientists can identify patterns that are characteristic of infections, enabling early diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Henderson and colleagues coordinated with WashU Medicine plastic surgeons to obtain fluid samples from 50 patient volunteers during several routine follow-up visits after surgery. The patients included women who later developed infections after post-mastectomy reconstruction and those who did not.<\/p>\n

The researchers analyzed the samples for differences between the two groups and identified metabolites that were significantly associated with infection and that appeared days to weeks before clinical signs and symptoms of infection. Further, they found that the presence of certain metabolites indicated more serious infections that might require more aggressive treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cOriginating from clinical intuition and validated through a clinical study, the evidence in this paper now supports proactive, targeted interventions to predict and address infections before they become clinically significant,\u201d said\u00a0Justin M. Sacks, MD<\/a>, the Sydney M. Shoenberg Jr. and Robert H. Shoenberg Endowed Chair in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, director of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at WashU Medicine and a coauthor on the paper. \u201cSuch interventions can substantially reduce the burden of complications, implant loss and reconstructive failures in these patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, the findings could lead to the development of a point-of-care test that could be provided during a woman\u2019s routine post-operative visits, noted coauthor\u00a0Terence M. Myckatyn, MD<\/a>, a professor of surgery at WashU Medicine, who performs plastic and reconstructive surgery for breast cancer patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the test is positive, antibiotics can be started preemptively in these select patients to thwart infection,\u201d Myckatyn said. \u201cAnd perhaps just as important, we would not give antibiotics to those with a negative test, thereby adhering to a thoughtful approach for antibiotic stewardship.\u201d Such careful use of antibiotics is important for preventing antibiotic resistance, he said.<\/p>\n

In the near term, the team is planning additional studies to validate the results. Then a diagnostic tool could be developed and tested in clinical practice. In the future, the broader metabolomic findings about the development of tissue infection in humans could allow physicians to more selectively target a variety of post-surgical infections, for example, by revealing new drug targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile better techniques are always being sought, the reality is that infections still occur despite a meticulous surgical approach,\u201d said Myckatyn. \u201cTo be able to identify biomarkers that can portend an infection days before it develops is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article has been republished from the following materials<\/a>. Material may have been edited for length and house style. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.<\/p>\n

Click here to sign up to our dedicated breast cancer news round-up<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Original story from Washington University in St. Louis Novel approach spots early signs of infection after breast cancer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[43406,144802,163,85,46,144803],"class_list":["post-281805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cellular-metabolism","tag-clinical-outcomes","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-metabolomic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}