Novel techniques for intraoperative assessment of margin involvement

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Surgical Oncology
• Medical Technology

Background:

• Breast conserving surgery (BCS) is the standard for early-stage breast cancer.
• Ipsilateral breast tumour recurrence (IBTR) rates are low (<1% annually) in specialist practices.
• Defining adequate resection margins for BCS remains variable despite consensus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review novel technologies for intraoperative margin assessment in BCS.
• To reduce rates of re-operation and associated patient inconvenience and cost.
• To evaluate the safety, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness of new margin assessment technologies.

Main Methods:

• Review of novel technologies for intraoperative margin assessment.
• Analysis of current practices and challenges in achieving clear surgical margins.
• Exploration of ongoing studies on new margin assessment technologies.

Main Results:

• Up to 20% of patients require re-operation to achieve clear margins after BCS.
• Several novel technologies have been explored for intraoperative margin assessment.
• Ongoing research focuses on comparing new technologies with routine methods.

Conclusions:

• Achieving clear surgical margins in BCS remains a challenge, necessitating re-operations in a significant patient subset.
• Novel intraoperative margin assessment technologies show promise in reducing re-operation rates.
• Further research is crucial to establish the clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of these emerging technologies.