Near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging in breast-conserving surgery: Assessing intraoperative techniques in tissue-simulating breast phantoms

We evaluated the potential of NIRF imaging applications for BCS. The clinical setting was simulated by exploiting tissue-like breast phantoms with fluorescent tumour-like agarose inclusions. From this evaluation, we conclude that intraoperative NIRF imaging is feasible and may improve BCS by providing the surgeon with imaging information on tumour location, margin status, and presence of residual disease in real-time. Clinical studies are needed to further validate these results.