Breast cancer surgery with
augmented reality
by Pedro F. Gouveia, Joana Costa, Pedro Morgado, Ronald
Kates, David Pinto, Carlos Mavioso, João Anacleto, Marta Martinho, Daniel
Simões Lopes, Arlindo R. Ferreira, Vasileios Vavourakis, Myrianthi
Hadjicharalambous, Marco A. Silva, Nickolas Papanikolaou, Celeste Alves, Fatima
Cardoso, Maria João Cardoso
The Breast: VOLUME 56, P14-17, APRIL 01,
2021 (Published online: January 26th, 2021)
Innovations in 3D spatial technology and augmented reality
imaging driven by digital high-tech industrial science have accelerated
experimental advances in breast cancer imaging and the development of medical
procedures aimed to reduce invasiveness. Presentation of case: A 57-year-old
post-menopausal woman presented with screen-detected left-sided breast cancer.
After undergoing all staging and pre-operative studies the patient was proposed
for conservative breast surgery with tumor localization. During surgery, an
experimental digital and non-invasive intra-operative localization method with
augmented reality was compared with the standard pre-operative localization
with carbon tattooing (institutional protocol). The breast surgeon wearing an
augmented reality headset (Hololens) was able to visualize the tumor location
projection inside the patient’s left breast in the usual supine position.
Discussion: This work describes, to our knowledge, the first experimental test
with a digital non-invasive method for intra-operative breast cancer
localization using augmented reality to guide breast conservative surgery. In
this case, a successful overlap of the previous standard pre-operative marks
with carbon tattooing and tumor visualization inside the patient’s breast with
augmented reality was obtained. Conclusion: Breast cancer conservative guided
surgery with augmented reality can pave the way for a digital non-invasive
method for intra-operative tumor localization.
