Affordable System Enables Immediate Digital Pathology of Tumors During Surgery

By HospiMedica International staff writers
Posted on 14 Aug 2024

Millions are diagnosed with cancer annually, and for solid tumors, surgery is often the primary treatment. Achieving complete tumor removal requires confirming that no cancerous tissue remains at the surgical margins—the boundaries between tumor and healthy tissue. This distinction can be challenging due to visual similarities during surgery. Accurate margin assessment is crucial for the success of cancer surgeries. However, the need for specialized equipment and skilled personnel means that ensuring negative tumor margins is particularly challenging in low-resource environments, often necessitating multiple surgeries. Now, a groundbreaking, low-cost technology has been developed that could change the face of surgical oncology, especially in resource-limited settings, by reducing repeat surgeries, cutting costs, and improving patient outcomes.

A multi-institutional research collaboration led by Rice University (Houston, TX, USA) is set to enhance the precision of tumor removal for breast and head and neck cancers. Known as AccessPath, this pioneering, affordable, slide-free cancer pathology system allows surgeons to verify in real-time whether all cancerous tissue has been removed during an operation. This system addresses key challenges in tumor surgery, enhancing the timeliness and convenience of care for patients, thereby improving outcomes.

Image: The low-cost pathology system can speed up accurate assessment of tumor margins for breast and head and neck cancer (Photo courtesy of Richards-Kortum Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging Laboratory/Rice University)

AccessPath features a durable, high-resolution microscope with an extensive field-of-view and deep focus capability, designed to quickly image tumors. It utilizes cost-effective, quick-acting fluorescent stains that highlight tumor margins and integrates advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for rapid and precise margin classification. By tackling these challenges, AccessPath aims to drastically reduce the costs associated with pathology equipment and simplify the analysis process, enabling immediate pathological assessments during surgeries. Designed to be a comprehensive, economical system for immediate digital pathology of excised tumors, AccessPath has the potential to significantly broaden the availability of accurate intraoperative tumor margin assessment at hospitals, ultimately enhancing treatment efficacy for all surgical cancer patients.

“Because of its low cost, high speed, and automated analysis, we believe AccessPath can revolutionize real-time surgical guidance, greatly expanding the range of hospitals able to provide accurate intraoperative tumor margin assessment and improving outcomes for all cancer surgery patients,” said Rebecca Richards-Kortum, a Rice bioengineering professor and director of the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies who is the lead PI on the project.