FIG. 1.

The two essential components of hardware systems and molecular probes are illustrated feeding to the development process of molecular-guided surgery (center). The technological innovations feed to the center, but these also feed to and from the individual surgical subspecialties, around the central core ideas. The most well developed and readily adopted system features and molecular probes are at top, with R&D pushing innovations downward, yet adoption of both generally comes from the most well developed systems and probes first (top of outer circle). Commercial adoption tends to be at the more conservative end of this (top of figure), and in many cases is the opposite of research innovations (bottom of figure). Additionally interaction through the surgical subspecialties generally comes from the manufacturer outward, without significant interspecialty cross-fertilization.