ADVANCES IN INTRAOPERATIVE PROBE TECHNOLOGY FOR REAL-TIME TUMOR DELINEATION: A TEN-YEAR REVIEW FOR SURGICAL ONCOLOGY

Introduction: Achieving a "clean surgical margin" in oncologic surgery is a fundamental goal for preventing local recurrence and improving patient survival. The persistence of high rates of positive surgical margins (PSMs) highlights the inadequacy of traditional visual and tactile assessment methods, driving the need for more precise, real-time intraoperative guidance technologies. The clinical consequences of PSMs, including high re-excision rates that delay essential adjuvant therapies, underscore the urgency for such innovation. Methods: This review aims to comprehensively analyze the major intraoperative probe technologies that have transformed the practice of oncologic surgery over the last decade: radioguided surgery (RGS), fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS), advanced intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS), and spectroscopic probes. The physical principles, technological evolution, clinical applications, advantages, and limitations of each modality are comparatively analyzed. Results: The participants’ levels of climate change awareness and concern were found to be high. Regarding preparedness for climate change, the highest mean scores were observed in the areas of personal responsibility, risk knowledge, and local risk awareness, while the lowest scores were in local participation and neighbor solidarity. A positive and significant relationship was found between participants’ awareness scores and their concern and preparedness scores. Nursing students’ preparedness levels for climate change were significantly higher than those of other health professions. Findings: Key trends examined include the transition from simple count-based detection to imaging in RGS; the paradigm shift in FGS from non-specific agents to biologically targeted and activatable "smart" probes; the revitalization of IOUS through integration with surgical navigation and functional techniques; and the potential of spectroscopy to provide in-situ "optical biopsy," which is heavily dependent on artificial intelligence (AI) for interpretation. It is emphasized that no single technology is the optimal solution for every clinical scenario; rather, the future lies in the intelligent orchestration of multimodal systems where AI serves as the central interpretive engine for comprehensive decision support. Conclusions: The development and integration of these technologies are transforming surgical decision-making from a subjective assessment to an approach guided by real-time, biologically relevant data, holding the promise to reduce PSM rates and shape the future of oncologic surgery.