Real-time Breast Cancer Surgery Navigation

每8名女性中就有1人罹患乳腺癌，是女性癌症相关死亡的第二大原因。理想的治疗方法是在早期进行保乳手术，在保留乳腺健康部分的同时切除肿瘤。**当在切除组织的边缘发现癌细胞时，复发的可能性**极高，患者必须再次手术。平均而言，每**三到四个接受保乳手术的女性中，就有一个因为在切除边缘发现肿瘤细胞，需要至少再**一次手术。重复手术导致术后并发症风险增加、美容受损、延迟放射治疗、增加心理困扰、增加费用以及进行第二次全身麻醉的风险。重复手术通常会导致全乳切除术，这对希望通过保乳来治愈的患者来说是一次创伤性的经历。**通过开发一种新型实时电磁导航系统，我们打算**提高乳腺癌切除术的准确性，这将大大减少重复手术的次数，从而为患者带来重大的生活质量效益，并**大大降低医疗保健费用。

Breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women during their lives and is the second-leading cause of**female cancer related deaths. The ideal treatment is breast-conservation surgery during its**early stage to remove the cancer while conserving healthy parts of the breast.**When cancer cells are found on the edge of the resected tissue, the probability of recurrence**is extremely high and the patient must have repeat surgery. On average, one out of every**three or four women undergoing breast-conservation surgery needs at least one additional**surgery due to tumor cells found on the resection margins. Repeat surgery leads to increased**risk of postoperative complications, impaired cosmesis, delaying radiation therapy, increased**psychological distress, increased costs, and risks of undergoing a second general**anesthesia. Repeat surgery often leads to full mastectomy, which is a traumatic experience**for a patient who expected a curative treatment with breast-conservation.**Through development of a novel real-time electromagnetic navigation system, we intend to**improve the accuracy of breast cancer resection, which would lead to a significant reduction**in the number of repeat surgeries, thus yielding major quality of life benefits for patients and**much decreased costs for health care.