With advanced detection methods now allowing cancers to be found at earlier and earlier stages, new treatment methods to deal with these early stage cancers are also emerging. Radioguided occult lesion localisation (ROLL), a technique pioneered in 1996, is a useful method for localisation of impalpable breast tumours with results superior to those obtained by wire localisation and comparable to those achieved by surgery of palpable lesions. ROLL allows for the precise localisation necessary to optimise the cosmetic outcome in breast conserving surgery without jeopardising sufficient free tissue margins. ROLL can also be used in conjunction with sentinel node biopsy (SNB) using either the same or different radioactive tracer. For all these reasons, ROLL is an important development in breast cancer treatment.
