Real time intraoperative classification of breast tissue with the intelligent knife

Introduction: Re-operation for close/positive margins following breast-conserving surgery occurs frequently (≈20–25%), is cost-inefficient, and leads to physical and psychological morbidity. Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) determines the structural lipid profile of tissues by the on-line analysis of electrosurgical smoke and uses this information for the rapid identification of dissected tissues. We evaluated its performance regarding real-time classification of heterogeneous breast tissue.