Clinical Breast Session
AB041. SOH26AB_0090. Evaluation of microwave breast imaging in the detection of primary breast lesions
Eoin Kerin1, John O’Donnell1, Sami Abd Elwahab1,2, Thomas Butler1, Luis Bouz Mkabaah1, Angie Fasoula3, Giannis Papatrechas3, Petros Arvanitis3, Luc Duchesne4, Michael Barry2, Aoife Lowery1,2, Michael Kerin1,2
1The Lambe Institute for Translational Research, Department of Surgery, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland;
2Department of Surgery, University Hospital Galway, Galway, Ireland;
3Wavelia Healthcare, MVG Industries, Athens, Greece;
4Wavelia Healthcare, MVG Industries, Villejust, France
Background: One in seven women is diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Despite major advances in breast cancer detection and treatment in recent years, diagnostic accuracy through breast imaging remains challenging in certain subsets, including younger and dense-breast cohorts. The Wavelia #2 microwave breast imaging (MWBI) system (Wavelia) is a non-compressive radiation-free novel imaging technique which is undergoing early clinical evaluation. A prospective pilot study was undertaken in the University Hospital Galway Symptomatic Breast Unit to investigate the diagnostic performance of the Wavelia #2 MWBI device.
Methods: Participants underwent MWBI in addition to routine diagnostic imaging. The primary endpoint was the system’s lesion detectability, while secondary endpoints included lesion sizing and detectability by biopsy clip status, as well as across age and breast density categories.
Results: Out of 62 patients included, 56 patients underwent accurate lesion detection by MWBI [sensitivity =90.3%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 80.45–95.49%], including 29/30 with benign and 27/32 patients with malignant lesions, respectively. Performance was high in younger cohorts, with detection in 95.5% (21/22) of women <40 years and 96.0% (24/25) of pre-menopausal women ≥40 years. In dense breasts [Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) C/D], detectability reached 91.4% (32/35), and performance remained accurate in extremely dense tissue (BI-RADS D) (17/19, 89.5%). Lesion sizing showed reasonable agreement with ultrasound: mean MWBI (median maximal size difference =−1.6 mm).
Conclusions: Wavelia demonstrated high overall lesion detectability, particularly in younger patients and dense-breast cohorts, with stable performance regardless of biopsy-clip status and acceptable sizing concordance with ultrasound. This supports MWBI as a promising non-ionising adjunct in symptomatic breast imaging and rationalises further investigation of this system’s capabilities in larger, more diverse cohorts.
Keywords: Breast cancer; diagnostic performance; microwave imaging; radiomics; Wavelia
Acknowledgments
None.
Funding: None.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
doi: 10.21037/map-26-ab041
Cite this abstract as: Kerin E, O’Donnell J, Elwahab SA, Butler T, Mkabaah LB, Fasoula A, Papatrechas G, Arvanitis P, Duchesne L, Barry M, Lowery A, Kerin M. AB041. SOH26AB_0090. Evaluation of microwave breast imaging in the detection of primary breast lesions. Mesentery Peritoneum 2026;10:AB041.
