Elsevier

Academic Radiology

Volume 9, Issue 2, February 2002, Pages 186-194
Academic Radiology

Near-Infrared Optical Imaging of the Breast with Model-Based Reconstruction

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1076-6332(03)80169-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Rationale and Objectives

Near-infrared diffuse optical imaging may offer enhanced contrast resolution over that of the existing technologies for detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. The authors report quantitative absorption and scattering images of the human breast with model-based reconstruction methods using near-infrared continuous-wave tomographic data.

Materials and Methods

An automatic, multichannel optical imaging system was used to image the breasts of nine women: four with infiltrating ductal carcinomas, one with infiltrating lobular carcinoma, one with fibroadenoma, and three control subjects with no breast lesion. The image reconstruction methods are centered on the finite element solution of photon diffusion in breast tissue.

Results

Substantial contrast between tumor and adjacent parenchyma was observed. Images of the control subjects showed homogeneous optical features. In the six women with breast lesions, the locations and sizes of tumors imaged optically were accurate and consistent with the mammographic findings.

Conclusion

The results of this pilot study show that cancers as small as 5 mm can be quantitatively imaged. In addition, preliminary data from the scattering images suggest that benign and malignant tumors can be noninvasively differentiated with optical imaging.

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

Our near-infrared optical imager is an automated, multichannel frequency-domain system (we needed only direct current [DC] measurements to reconstruct the optical images reported herein). In the clinical measurements, an intensity-modulated light from a 785-nm 50-mW diode laser (Thorlabs, Newton, NJ) was sent sequentially, via an automatic moving stage (17NST101; Melles-Griot, Cambridge, England), to 16 3-mm fiberoptic bundles attached to the breast. For each source position, the diffused light

Results

We have completed a pilot series of optical breast examinations in nine women (five white, three black, and one Hispanic; age range, 32–62 years). Patients of differing races were studied to see if skin color affected results. The protocol was approved by the institutional review board, and the study was conducted in full compliance with the accepted standards for research involving human subjects. Except for control cases, patients entering the study had a suspicious mammogram or palpable

Discussion

In this pilot clinical evaluation of an optical imaging system, we obtained two types of images, absorption and scattering, from a single plane. Physically, these represent two different intrinsic properties of breast tissue. For all absorption images, breast masses demonstrated increased absorption relative to the background tissue. Increased blood volume associated with a rapidly growing tumor is the primary cause of this increase in absorption. This assumption has been supported by in vitro

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    The Department of Radiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston (L.F.B.).

    Supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (CA 78334) and the Greenville Hospital System/Clemson University Biomedical Cooperative.

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