SLAM-Based Breast Reconstruction System for Surgical Guidance Using a Low-Cost Camera

Mastectomy is often coupled with breast reconstruction surgery (BRS) to reconstruct the breast mound. However, BRS is challenging and subject to the judgement of the surgeon in determining the amount of tissue to be harvested and the shape of reconstructed breast. To date, the existing tools aimed at maintaining symmetry and appearance of the reconstructed breast are costly. In this paper, we have developed an intuitive breast reconstruction system comprising a software application integrated with the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm, and a low-cost RGB-D camera. Our SLAM-based breast reconstruction system will be used to scan and reconstruct the patient’s breast using our customized mesh-generating method prior to mastectomy. Using this reconstructed model, a patient-specific 3D printed mold is created to help shape the harvested tissue that is inserted into the mastectomy site during BRS. Validation experiments show that the mean repeatability and accuracy errors for the surface reconstruction are less than 1.5 mm. The software application has been tested on 20 patients under an IRB-approved protocol including intraoperative guidance for 4 patients. The results show the consistent and accurate reconstruction of the breasts including the inframammary fold for different breast shapes and skin tones.