Automated objective outcome measures for breast reconstruction V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Establishing automated objective outcome measures for breast reconstruction using 3D surface images
IRAS ID
199432
Contact name
John Winder
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Background: Treatment for breast cancer is individually tailored for each woman, and varies depending on the stage and biology of her cancer. Most breast cancer patients require surgery, which aims to remove the tumour with adequate resection margins, and maintain or restore breast aesthetics as far as possible. It has clearly been demonstrated that the cosmetic outcome of breast surgery impacts on patient’s psychosocial outcomes (Al-Ghazal et EJSO 1999). Good cosmetic outcomes from surgery may thus contribute to maximizing patient’s quality of life through reducing the impact surgery has on their physical appearance. Evaluating the cosmetic outcome of breast surgery is essential in order to make improvements in current strategies by identifying variables which affect breast aesthetics (Cardoso et al, 2014). There is however currently no consensus on the optimal method of assessment of the outcomes of breast reconstruction surgery, as noted by Potter et al (2011). Effective evaluation of the cosmetic outcomes therefore requires a standardised method of 3D data capture and an objective and consistent processing technique to provide measures of breast aesthetics.
Aim: To develop and test novel, automated algorithms for clinicians to perform objective outcome measures of breast reconstructive surgery.
Objectives: 1. To gather 3D surface image data. 2. To develop novel automated algorithms to determine indices of breast symmetry. 3. To identify a set of appropriate outcome measures. 4. To test the validity of the proposed outcome measures from the 3D software against the current gold standard of panel assessment of 2D patient photographs.
Methods: This study will require access to pre and post-operative 2D and 3D pseudo-anonymised photographs of women who have undergone treatment of breast cancer and scheduled for an immediate breast reconstruction. The validation phase of the study will recruit a panel to subjectively score breast appearance pre and post-surgery from 2D photographs.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
16/WS/0104
Date of REC Opinion
2 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion