Abstract PO2-28-12: Rapid diagnosis of breast biopsies with open-top light-sheet microscopy
Authors: Pope Brandy Olin , Alvarez Rebeca , Childers Charles , Dintzis Suzanne , Javid Sarah , Reder Nicholas , Rahbar Habib 
Published: May 2024

Introduction: Breast cancer is typically diagnosed through a diagnostic work-up that involves specialized breast imaging, image-guided biopsy, and pathological assessment. Pathology results require 2 to 7 business days before a diagnosis is rendered, creating anxiety in women presenting with a breast abnormality. Decreasing pathology evaluation lead-time has the potential to reduce anxiety, streamline patient care, and reduce heathcare costs. In this pilot study, we evaluated the potential of open-top light-sheet microscopy to deliver a preliminary breast pathology diagnosis within 30 minutes of biopsy. Methods: Fresh 14-gauge breast biopsies (N=40) in normal saline were received directly from the breast imaging clinic and immediately stained using the nuclear marker SYBR Gold (Invitrogen) and pan-protein marker Atto 655 NHS Ester (Sigma) prepared in dimethyl sulfoxide, washed, and cleared for imaging at a refractive index of 1.46 using 2,2’-Thiodiethanol (Sigma). The full process requires approximately 14 minutes for staining and clearing. After staining, we placed the biopsy in an in-house-built specimen holder and imaged a 100 micron cross section along the full length of the biopsy using our custom open-top light-sheet microscope. Images were subsequently converted computationally to a standard H&E color format using Fiji and Aivia (Leica) software and were ready for evaluation by a pathologist the same day they were collected. mages were assessed by two pathologists with subspecialization in breast pathology for a two-category diagnosis: benign or atypical. After imaging, the biopsy was frozen, a frozen section was cut, and an H&E-stained slide was produced. Results: Using the protocol above, we demonstrated the ability to stain, clear, image, and visualize needle core biopsies within 30 minutes of receiving the tissue sample. Processing and converting the data to an H&E color palette required additional time, surpassing the 30-minute turnaround time goal. The images contained readily identifiable stroma, epithelial cells, immune cells, and duct structures to a depth of 100 microns. 29/40 biopsies yielded interpretable results. 11/40 had insufficient staining, clearing, or imaging quality for diagnosis. The number of non-diagnostic images improved in the second half of the study (5%) compared to the first half of the study (50%) with sample prep and imaging optimization. Agreement between the two breast pathologists on classifying the biopsies as benign vs. atypical was 89.7%. Discussion: We describe a novel method to obtain a microscopic image of breast core biopsy specimens to facilitate preliminary diagnosis within 30 minutes of receipt of tissue. The quality of the images produced by the method shows promise for preliminary diagnosis, especially after protocol optimization for the second half of the study. Additional optimization is needed in data processing to meet the 30-minute turnaround time requirement. This optimization can be achieved by parallelization of the data processing on a cluster or cloud, which is currently under investigation by our team.

Citation Format: Brandy Olin Pope, Rebeca Alvarez, Charles Childers, Suzanne Dintzis, Sarah Javid, Nicholas Reder, Habib Rahbar. Rapid diagnosis of breast biopsies with open-top light-sheet microscopy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO2-28-12.