Automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) for intraoperative margin control on surgical specimens in breast conserving surgery

Abstract Purpose As breast-conserving surgery (BCS) has become standard for treatment of early breast cancer, the need for new technologies to improve intraoperative margin assessment has become clear. Close or positive margins during BCS lead to additional surgeries, treatment delay, additional stress for patients and increasing healthcare cost. Automated three-dimensional breast ultrasound (ABUS) systems are meant to overcome the shortcomings of hand-held ultrasound (HHUS). In this study we investigate the feasibility of ABUS to conduct ultrasound on surgical specimens in breast conserving therapy. Methods In this monocentric, non-interventional study, specimens of 40 women were examined via ABUS. A construction with isotonic saline solution, gel pads and ABUS membranes was invented by our team to produce images of breast cancer specimens using ABUS. Evaluation of the ABUS images was carried out by two independent physicians trained on ABUS evaluation. Results ABUS was conducted on 40 specimens. 90% of the generated images were of high quality. Measured tumor sizes with ABUS were bigger than measured tumor size with HHUS (mean tumor size 22.9 vs. 18.1 mm, CI 2.38–7.35, p < 0.05). The mean difference between the ABUS tumor size and the pathological tumor size was 1.8 mm (CI -0.84-4.53, p = 0.17). The mean difference between the HHUS tumor size and the pathological tumor size was 3.2 mm (CI -5.35- -1.03, p = 0.005). Conclusion ABUS seems to be a suitable method to conduct specimen ultrasound. Further studies are required to evaluate the accuracy of ABUS for intraoperative margin assessment and possible implementation in clinical work routine.