Optical tissue measurements of invasive carcinoma and ductal carcinoma in situ for surgical guidance.

Background: Although the incidence of positive resection margins in breast-conserving surgery has decreased, both incomplete resection and unnecessary large resections still occur. This is especially the case in the surgical treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), an optical technology based on light tissue interactions, can potentially characterize tissue during surgery thereby guiding the surgeon intraoperatively.

Towards the use of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for real-time in vivo detection of breast cancer during surgery.

Background: Breast cancer surgeons struggle with differentiating healthy tissue from cancer at the resection margin during surgery. We report on the feasibility of using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) for real-time in vivo tissue characterization.

Methods: Evaluating feasibility of the technology requires a setting in which measurements, imaging and pathology have the best possible correlation.

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy: towards clinical application in breast cancer.

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) is a promising new technique for breast cancer diagnosis. However, inter-patient variation due to breast tissue heterogeneity may interfere with the accuracy of this technique. To tackle this issue, we aim to determine the diagnostic accuracy of DRS in individual patients.