A NEW piece of hi-tech equipment is being used to treat women in Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich undergoing breast surgery.

The Sysmex lymph node analyser is one of only 10 in use in the UK, and is based at the Princess Royal Hospital in Farnborough.

The equipment is used when a woman is actually undergoing breast surgery, and can detect any signs of tumours in her lymph nodes within 30 minutes.

Because the results are available to surgeons while surgery is still underway, it means any necessary further procedures can be done at the same time, instead of the woman having to go home and wait for the results of the test.

The equipment has been paid by a determined group of Bromley patients who fundraised to pay for it.

Dr Anil Desai, the lead breast surgeon at the Farnborough hospital praised the fundraisers for their hard work and said: “This is a tremendous advance in caring for our breast surgery patients. ”