Enhancing Intraoperative Margin Assessment in Early-Stage Breast Cancer with Specimen PET-CT Imaging: Insights from the BrIMA Trial

Highlight

• Specimen PET-CT imaging significantly improved intraoperative detection of positive margins in early-stage breast cancer surgeries.
• Success rates for achieving negative invasive ductal carcinoma margins increased to 95.2% with specimen PET-CT versus 83.3% without intraoperative assessment.
• Implementation of this imaging approach could reduce re-excision rates, thereby lowering patient morbidity and healthcare costs.
• Multicenter European trial confirms feasibility and clinical utility of low-dose 18F-FDG PET-CT imaging integrated into surgical workflow.

Study Background