Researchers from the University of Western Australia have developed a new breast imaging tool that can help surgeons better differentiate between malignant and healthy issue, and potentially spare thousands of breast cancer patients from having to undergo a second surgery.

“This tool will provide surgeons with feedback about whether the margin has malignant tissue while the patient is still in the operating room,” Wes Allen, a researcher and electronic engineering doctoral student at the University of Western Australia, said in a statement.

A type of breast-conserving surgery called wide-local excisions is becoming increasingly popular. To ensure that the malignant tissue has been completely removed, samples are taken for pathology testing and results are available days after the surgery. If malignant tissue is discovered, then the patient must undergo a second surgery, which happens in 20 to 30 percent of cases. But that is costly for the hospital and the patients have to endure the emotional toll of a second surgery. It may also delay other treatments.
The new imaging tool, (called optical coherence micro-elastography, or OCME), builds on another imaging system called optical coherence tomography (OCT). OCT generates 3-D, high-resolution images based on how different portions of a tissue sample reflect laser light.

OCME uses OCT to measure how different portions of tissue respond to being physically compressed, because the amount of compression within the tissue is related to its mechanical properties. OCME then overlays the mechanical properties onto the OCT image and the hybrid image helps the surgeons better distinguish malignant from healthy tissue.

The researchers have validated the imaging tool with an actuator, a device that briefly compresses the samples. In their current work, they have used a larger, wide-field actuator and created a new protocol to quicken the scanning process.

“By moving to a wide-field actuator, we can scan the entire face of specimens excised during wide-local excision,” said Allen. “This means that we have a benchtop system that can have clinical relevance.”

Allen and his team believe that their technology can eventually be translated into a handheld probe that surgeons can use directly to spot remaining malignant tissue.

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