Intraoperative real-time margin assessment of breast conserving surgeries can reduce the need for repeat operations due to cancer involved margins. Repeat operations result in excessive removal of benign tissue, increased risk for infection, slower healing and inferior cosmetic results. In the current standard of care, the status of the margins is determined by pathology only several days after surgery. An intraoperative assessment of the margins enables complete tumor excision in a single surgery.
The proposed randomized controlled study will evaluate the benefits of adding the ClearEdge imaging device to the Standard of Care (SoC) of margins assessment in breast conserving surgeries. The study will assess whether there is an improvement in the detection of cancer involved margins by measuring whether removal at the time of primary surgical treatment can reduce the need for repeat surgeries as compared to the SoC, which does not use the device.
ClearEdge is a CE marked device already been used in several hospitals in the UK. It was used in a prospective single arm and 2 phases clinical study. It was demonstrated that surgeons successfully used the device to identify cancer involved margins and that it can reduce the need for repeat surgeries by meeting the margins depth criteria to require repeat operations. European Journal of Oncology Surgery. 2016; 42 (12): 1834-1840. In addition, the device was clinically evaluated by several hospitals.
