CoreView imaging on needle: Rapid core-needle biopsy imaging for point-of-care breast cancer diagnosis

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide, with early and rapid diagnosis playing a critical role in improving patient outcomes. Core-needle biopsies (CNBs) are the current gold standard for minimally invasive BC diagnoses. However, in low-resource and rural settings, access to CNB diagnostics is limited by infrastructural constraints, long histopathology turnaround times, as well as financial and geographical barriers. To address these challenges, we developed the CoreView imaging on needle (ION), an affordable, integrated imaging system designed to provide rapid, and point-of-care diagnostic assessment of CNB samples. The CoreView ION integrates microscopy with ultraviolet surface excitation technology, enabling the imaging of tissue biopsy surfaces within 5 min, significantly reducing diagnostic delays. This study presents the design, fabrication, and verification of the CoreView ION prototype operation, including its imaging workflow, staining protocols, and tissue compression testing. Our results demonstrate that the system can successfully generate histology-grade images of porcine and murine fresh biopsies, preserving cellular and nuclear detail of normal and tumor tissue. By streamlining CNB imaging and incorporating mainly manual low-cost components, the CoreView ION has the potential to improve BC diagnostics in low-resource settings, ultimately enhancing early detection and patient care.