Perimeter Medical Imaging AI confirms positive outcomes from study of artificial intelligence technology on breast cancer surgeries

A peer-reviewed study on an artificial intelligence technology developed by Perimeter Medical Imaging AI (TSX-V: PINK) has identified positive outcomes for breast cancer surgery.

When integrated with wide field optical coherence tomography (WF-OCT), Perimeter’s ImgAssist software has been shown to enhance productivity and decision making in surgery margin assessments.

The deep learning model showed high levels of sensitivity and specificity, accurately identifying 96.8% of pathology-positive margins.

The results are believed to highlight the clinical viability of AI-enhanced margin visualisation using WF-OCT in breast cancer surgery and its potential to decrease re-operation rates due to residual tumours.

AI advancements

Perimeter chief executive officer Adrian Mendes praised the company’s advancements in AI technology.

“We have a dataset of several million proprietary images of cancerous and healthy tissue captured with our OCT imaging technology… our AI team has developed models tailored for real-time applications in healthcare settings and uses this image library in training to achieve an industry-leading result,” he said.

“Our leadership represents a key value driver as we build a product pipeline which aims to improve surgical outcomes and broaden our addressable market through a variety of tissue types beyond breast.”

B-Series OCT trial

A multi-centre, randomised clinical trial at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas is evaluating the use of Perimeter B-Series OCT combined with ImgAssist during breast conservation surgery.

Perimeter intends to conduct a planned interim analysis in the second quarter, with study completion anticipated by the end of 2024.

Leading cause of death

According to the World Health Organisation, breast cancer is the leading cancer-related cause of death among women worldwide and is the most common cancer (excluding melanoma) in 109 countries.

Early-stage breast cancer management often involves breast-conserving surgery, which is a lumpectomy procedure aiming to remove tumours with clear margins while preserving the aesthetic quality of the breast.

However, the reliance on permanent histopathology for margin assessment — a process that takes days — can result in a significant rate of re-operations due to positive margins.

This may necessitate further surgery to remove more tissue and can cause increased patient anxiety, higher morbidity, and increased healthcare costs.

Need for improvements

A database for the US National Surgical Quality Improvement Program indicates that post-lumpectomy re-operations for breast cancer patients are notably higher than compared to other organs.

Most patients with positive margins undergo a secondary excision operation to reduce the probability of the cancer’s recurrence.

Mr Mendes said the statistics underscore the need for improvements in breast cancer surgery margin assessment.