Inizio

01/12/2024

Fine

30/11/2028

Status

In corso

Spectra-BREAST

Vedi il sito del progetto

Inizio

01/12/2024

Fine

30/11/2028

Status

In corso

Tecniche ottiche per migliorare la chirurgia conservativa del seno

La chirurgia conservativa del seno (lumpectomia) ha lo scopo di rimuovere il tumore lasciando il più possibile il seno. La definizione del margine tumorale per garantire la completa asportazione del tumore viene attualmente effettuata principalmente in fase post-operatoria, con il risultato che circa una paziente su cinque necessita di un secondo intervento. Il progetto Spectra-BREAST, finanziato dal Consiglio europeo per l’innovazione, si propone di rivoluzionare la chirurgia conservativa del seno fornendo uno strumento per valutare i margini tumorali durante l’intervento con un’accuratezza superiore al 95 % e in meno di cinque minuti. Combinando l’imaging iperspettrale, la spettroscopia Raman e l’intelligenza artificiale, identificherà il tessuto canceroso fino a due millimetri di profondità, migliorando gli esiti per le pazienti, riducendo i costi sanitari e consentendo applicazioni più ampie in altri interventi chirurgici e biopsie per il cancro.

  • Obiettivo di progetto

    The Spectra-BREAST project aims to revolutionize the assessment of tumor resection margins during breast conserving surgery (BCS). Currently, approximately 20% of breast cancer patients require a second operation due to incomplete removal of cancerous tissue. This results in increased costs for the healthcare system and significant negative effects on patients’ well-being. Nowadays, the standard margin assessment procedure is postoperative histopathological specimen analysis, which takes several days to complete. Although intraoperative histopathological analysis on frozen tissue is possible, it is less effective and cannot be implemented in all clinical centers. Alternative techniques have been suggested but have low diagnostic performance or take excessive time to assess the entire resected specimen. Spectra-BREAST aims to support surgeons with an intraoperative tool providing accurate and actionable feedback on the resection margin status over the whole specimen in less than 5 minutes. To this end, we will apply a radically new, high-risk multimodal approach combining two optical techniques, Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) and fiber-optic Raman Spectroscopy (RS) with AI-based data-analysis. HSI and AI will be used for fast and sensitive detection of suspicious margins, which are subsequently analyzed by RS, and a second AI will make the final prediction on the RS spectra. The ambition is to identify tumors on and below the resection surface (up to a depth of 2 mm), with an unprecedented high sensitivity and specificity (over 95%) in real-time. Spectra-BREAST also has the potential for wider applications, going beyond breast cancer to include margin assessment for other cancers, robotic/laparoscopic surgery, and guided biopsy. Finally, Spectra-BREAST will offer an objective technology reducing variability between patients, and most importantly, will improve patient outcomes such as reduced hospital stays, complications, anxiety, and improved cosmetic outcomes.