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Fat/water ratios measured with diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to detect breast tumor boundaries

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Abstract

Recognition of the tumor during breast-conserving surgery (BCS) can be very difficult and currently a robust method of margin assessment for the surgical setting is not available. As a result, tumor-positive margins, which require additional treatment, are not found until histopathologic evaluation. With diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), tissue can be characterized during surgery based on optical parameters that are related to the tissue morphology and composition. Here we investigate which optical parameters are able to detect tumor in an area with a mixture of benign and tumor tissue and hence which parameters are most suitable for intra-operative margin assessment. DRS spectra (400–1600 nm) were obtained from 16 ex vivo lumpectomy specimens from benign, tumor border, and tumor tissue. One mastectomy specimen was used with a custom-made grid for validation purposes. The optical parameter related to the absorption of fat and water (F/W-ratio) in the extended near-infrared wavelength region (~1000–1600 nm) provided the best discrimination between benign and tumor sites resulting in a sensitivity and specificity of 100 % (excluding the border sites). Per patient, the scaled F/W-ratio gradually decreased from grossly benign tissue towards the tumor in 87.5 % of the specimens. In one test case, based on a predefined F/W-ratio for boundary tissue of 0.58, DRS produced a surgical resection plane that nearly overlapped with a 2-mm rim of benign tissue, 2 mm being the most widely accepted definition of a negative margin. The F/W-ratio provided excellent discrimination between sites clearly inside or outside the tumor and was able to detect the border of the tumor in one test case. This work shows the potential for DRS to guide the surgeon during BCS.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the NKI pathology department for their help in the collection of the data as well as the Philips Research project members for their contribution. We also thank Jarich Spliethoff and Jasper Nijkamp for their valuable feedback. This work was supported by Philips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    L. L. de Boer, B. G. Molenkamp, H. J. C. M. Sterenborg & T. J. M. Ruers

  2. Philips Research, In-body Systems Group, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    T. M. Bydlon & B. H. W. Hendriks

  3. Department of Pathology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    J. Wesseling

  4. MIRA Institute, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    T. J. M. Ruers

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  1. L. L. de Boer
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  2. B. G. Molenkamp
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  3. T. M. Bydlon
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  4. B. H. W. Hendriks
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Correspondence to L. L. de Boer.

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This study was supported by Philips Research, Eindhoven, Netherlands. The authors who are affiliated with Philips Research only have financial interests in the subject matter, materials, and equipment, in the sense that they are an employee of Philips. None of the other authors have any financial relationship with Philips Research or conflict of interests.

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This study complies with the current laws of the Netherlands.

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de Boer, L.L., Molenkamp, B.G., Bydlon, T.M. et al. Fat/water ratios measured with diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to detect breast tumor boundaries. Breast Cancer Res Treat 152, 509–518 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-015-3487-z

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