Optical scatter margin imaging in surgical specimens

One of the most common surgical oncology procedures is breast lumpectomy. This is a clinical paradigm where x-ray imaging of the resected specimen is done, but optical imaging has a major potential role to play in helping to identify if there is residual tumor. The goal is to have a healthy margin of tissue around the identified malignancy, and the surgeon needs better real-time tools to help confirm if this is the case. Current methods in x-ray imaging only visualize the mass roughly and the localization wire, whereas optical scanning tools can increase the fidelity of imaging the surfaces, to see if the margins are clear. However, the largest challenge is the one of logistics of imaging highly amorphous tissue volumes which can have high blood content, high heterogeneity of optical properties, ink marking or embedded wires. Additionally the imaging and guidance must be accomplished in minutes. Thus, wide field high sensitivity imaging tools are needed for optical scanning.