New Operating Room At BWH Helps Breast Cancer Patients Avoid Multiple Surgeries

BOSTON (CBS) -  There is no other operating room like this in world. It has fancy lights, flat screens, and life-saving imaging equipment typically not found in the OR. Equipment like x-rays, CT scans, and MRI's are all within arm's reach.

It's the AMIGO suite. A $20 million  state-of-the-art addition to Brigham and Women's Hospital that could change the way doctors operate on breast cancer patients.

Patients like Judy Rosenbaum. Judy found a lump last summer. And just before the Concord mom underwent surgery to remove the tumor, her doctor asked her to take part in an innovative new study.

She was only the third patient to undergo the procedure, but Judy says she still jumped at the chance.

"I said 'absolutely.' This is my best shot at having one surgery and not needing a second or sometimes a third," she said.

She had good reason to be concerned - up to 40% of breast cancer patients wind up having extra surgeries to completely remove a tumor.

Dr. Mehra Golshan wants to change that.

"If we can make this process just a little bit easier for women going through it, then we've done a really good job," Golshan said.

In this new procedure, Dr. Golshan removes the tumor and, while the patient is still asleep, a 10,000 pound MRI rolls out along the ceiling and instantly checks if any cancer remains.

"The difference is, you can't do both of them at the same time anywhere else. Meaning, you can't do an MRI and surgery anywhere else with this MRI hanging on the ceiling," Golshan continued.

Without the instant MRI, patients can wait up to a week for lab results and word if they will need another surgery.

"I think I would be probably pretty terrified if I had to do it again," says Rosenbaum.

But fortunately, she didn't need a second surgery. The MRI caught a few more areas of concern that were removed right away.

Judy and her husband, Lee, can't thank the AMIGO team enough.

"If the AMIGO facility is out of Star Wars, as far as I'm concerned, Mehra Golshan is a Jedi Knight," says Lee Rosenbaum with a smile.