Clinical Research Directory

SPECTRA: Intraoperative Hyperspectral Imaging for Prostate Cancer

Radical prostatectomy (RP) is currently one of the gold standard of care in managing localized prostate cancer (Pca). However, despite advances in Robot-Assisted RP (RARP), cancer cells may still be found (up to 42%) at the edge of the removed prostate specimen, commonly referred as Positive Surgical Margins (PSM). PSM are well-known risk factors of adverse oncological outcomes (biochemical recurrence). It is therefore essential to characterize intraoperatively the tumor extent. In RARP, the leading intraoperative margin assessment (IMA) technique, NeuroSAFE is based on Intra-operative frozen section (IFS) of both prostate lateral sides sampled at 3-5 mm intervals. However, despite proven oncological benefit, adoption is still limited to expert centers due to a prolonged operative time, loss of integrity of the surgical specimen for definitive histopathological analysis, omission of regions (apex, base), and logistical complexity (trained uropathologist, cryostat…). With this prospective single-center project, we wish to explore the use of non-invasive optical imaging technology, HyperSpectral Imaging (HSI), as a reliable alternative for examination of the ex-vivo prostate specimen to 1. Distinguish normal versus tumor tissue at the surgical margin in fresh specimen. 2. Quantify whether HSI can be integrated into the intraoperative workflow (feasibility), thus, image acquisition time and inference time should then be evaluated.