Abstract
A portable near infrared spectral tomography (NIRST) system was adapted for breast cancer detection and treatment monitoring with improved speed of acquisition for parallel 12 wavelengths of parallel frequency-domain (FD) and continuous-wavelength (CW) measurement. Using a novel gain adjustment scheme in the Photomultiplier Tube detectors (PMTs), the data acquisition time for simultaneous acquisition involving three FD and three CW wavelengths, has been reduced from 90 to 55 seconds, while signal variation was also reduced from 2.1% to 1.1%. Tomographic images of breast collagen content have been recovered for the first time, and image reconstruction approaches with and without collagen content included have been validated in simulation studies and normal subject exams. Simulations indicate that including collagen content into the reconstruction procedure can significantly reduce the overestimation in total hemoglobin, water and lipid by 8.9μM, 1.8% and 15.8%, respectively, and underestimates in oxygen saturation by 9.5%, given an average 10% background collagen content. A breast cancer patient with invasive ductal carcinoma was imaged and the reconstructed images show that the recovered tumor/background contrast in total hemoglobin increased from 1.5 to 1.7 when collagen was included in reconstruction.
Highlights
Breast cancer is a complex disease that presents challenges for both detection, treatment, and treatment monitoring
Pilot studies have shown that near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and near infrared spectral tomography (NIRST) can assess the intrinsic biophysical composition of tissue, in terms of absorber concentrations of deoxy-hemoglobin (Hb) and oxy-hemoglobin (HbO), water and lipids [10,11,12], as well as the scattering signatures attributed to ultra-structural cellular density and size ensemble associated with the extracellular matrix and subcellular constituents in healthy breast tissues [13, 14]
In addition to total hemoglobin (HbT, sum of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin) and oxygen saturation (StO2, the ratio of oxyhemoglobin to HbT), recent studies suggested that the extracellular water fraction occurring during the earliest stages of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is a biomarker of tumor response to therapy because they accompany apoptotic cell shrinkage [20]
Summary
Breast cancer is a complex disease that presents challenges for both detection, treatment, and treatment monitoring. Pilot studies have shown that NIRS and NIRST can assess the intrinsic biophysical composition of tissue, in terms of absorber concentrations of deoxy-hemoglobin (Hb) and oxy-hemoglobin (HbO), water and lipids [10,11,12], as well as the scattering signatures attributed to ultra-structural cellular density and size ensemble associated with the extracellular matrix and subcellular constituents in healthy breast tissues [13, 14] These can differentiate malignant from benign pathology [15, 16], and have shown success in monitoring the tumor response to treatments [17,18,19,20,21,22].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
