Raman spectroscopy system at Nottingham City Hospital to improve breast cancer diagnostics and guide surgery outcomes. Researchers from the University of Nottingham have been awarded £1.8 million by the Medical Research Council to lead the project in collaboration with the University of Kent and surgeons at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust to install the combined instrument at Nottingham City Hospital later this year.

Raman spectroscopy can detect molecular differences between normal tissue and cancer, but this requires hours to scan a whole specimen at high resolution. OCT can measure structural images of tissue at high speeds but lacks molecular specificity. AI algorithms specially developed for processing medical images will do a triage of the OCT images before they are processed further in the system.

The combined instrument maximises the speed and resolution of OCT and molecular specificity of Raman spectroscopy. This means that surgeons could analyse lumpectomy specimens during the time that a patient is in an operating theatre, allowing potential excision of breast cancer in a singular operation. Further surgery is often linked to poorer outcomes for patients, long recovery times and higher healthcare costs.

Source: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/world-first-oct-raman-diagnostics-system-to-provide-fast-ai-enabled-breast-cancer-diagnosis-during-surgery