Toward automated assessment of breast lumpectomy margins using radiomic and optomic signatures

High positive margin rates in oncologic breast-conserving surgery are a pressing clinical problem. Volumetric X-ray scanning is emerging as a powerful ex vivo specimen imaging technique for analyzing resection margins, but X-rays lack contrast between non-malignant and malignant fibrous tissues. In this study, combined micro-CT and wide-field optical image radiomics were developed to classify malignancy in breast cancer tissues. Results indicate that this form of multimodal radiomic analysis improves malignancy classification with statistical significance relative to using either X-ray or optical data alone.