Imagining system successful in detecting residual cancer during breast-conserving surgery

An Australian medical device company has announced positive data from its first successful study for residual cancer detection during breast-conserving surgery (BCS).

The results published by OncoRes Medical highlighted the first in-cavity use of the company’s Quantitative Micro-Elastography (QME) imaging system for identifying residual cancer.

The study, titled Quantitative micro-elastography enables in vivo detection of residual cancer in the surgical cavity during breast-conserving surgery was published in Cancer Research.

The researchers evaluated the system’s effectiveness based on its capability to identify residual cancer during BCS procedures and found that it was able to identify residual cancer by directly imaging the surgical cavity, potentially providing a “transformative” intraoperative solution that could enable more complete cancer excision during BCS.

OncoRes says when the probe is applied to a region of interest, the system provides micro-scale maps of the stiffness of the tissue which is a key differentiator from healthy tissue, emulating the surgeon’s sense of touch at a microscale.

This in turn enables the surgeon to identify and remove residual cancerous tissue within the cavity and could improve outcomes in BCS, reducing repeat operations for breast cancer patients.

“We’re delighted with the data from our first in-cavity study which concluded that our QME Imaging System has the potential to provide a game changing solution for complete cancer excision during surgery,” said Dr Katharine Giles, OncoRes Medical CEO.

“This data showcases how our system can be used to directly image the surgical cavity during BCS. We’re excited about the potential of our QME Imaging System to reduce the number of repeat surgeries and their physical and psychological impact for women with breast cancer.”

More than two million women globally are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, making it the most common cancer diagnosis.

Complete surgical excision of the cancer is the foundation of curative treatment. BCS, where the cancerous lump and a small rim of healthy tissue is removed, is the treatment of choice for most women diagnosed with breast cancer and one of the most performed cancer surgeries.

Currently, there are no available technologies to assist surgeons to identify residual cancer left inside the patient at the microscale, with surgeons relying on their senses of sight and touch along with macroscopic imaging of the excised lump to determine whether they have completely removed the cancer.

As a result, 20 to 30 per cent of patients have to return for further surgery as post-operative histopathology conducted in the week after surgery identifies cancer too close to the edge of the excised specimen.

OncoRes Medical has developed the QME Imaging System in collaboration with The University of Western Australia and Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in an effort to help surgeons identify and remove cancerous tissue more accurately.