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Abstract

A template for controlling the location and guiding of needles in a patient's breast preparatory to placement of radioactive seeds. The template has a pair of template blocks, each having a plurality of pre-drilled needle holes arranged in the same pattern and a template bridge adjustably connected to the top thereof to hold the template blocks with the needle holes in alignment. A shell having a part shaped to a portion of the patient's breast is adjustably fixed to the template for orienting the template blocks to the patient's breast whereby needles can be passed through the pre-drilled needle holes at predetermined locations and in a predetermined pattern. The method of treating breast tumors comprises the use of the template with the placement of a control mark on the patient's skin to denote the center of the field to be treated and the formation of the shell to conform to a portion of the patient's breast with a reference mark placed thereon corresponding to the location of the control mark for proper alignment of the shell part with the patient's breast and, thereafter, locking the shell to the template while the control and reference marks remain coincident and the pre-drilled needle holes are oriented in the desired manner for placement of the needles.

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First Claim