Abstract
.Relatively few imaging and sensing technologies are employed to study human lactation physiology. In particular, human mammary development during pregnancy as well as mammary involution after lactation have been poorly described, despite their importance for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment during these phases. Our case study shows the potential of diffuse optical spectroscopic imaging (DOSI) to uniquely study the spatiotemporal changes in mammary tissue composition during the involution of the lactating breast toward its pre-pregnant state. At nine time intervals over a period of eight months after the cessation of breastfeeding, we reconstructed 2-D maps of mammary water content, lipid content, total hemoglobin (THb) concentration, oxygen saturation (), and tissue optical scattering. Mammary lipid content in the nonareolar region showed a significant relative increase of 59%, whereas water content and THb concentration showed a significant relative decrease of 50% and 48%, respectively. Significant changes were also found in and tissue optical scattering. Our findings are consistent with the gradual replacement of fibroglandular tissue by adipose tissue and vascular regression during mammary involution. Moreover, our data provide unique insight into the dynamics of breast tissue composition and demonstrate the effectiveness of DOSI as a technique to study human lactation physiology.
Highlights
Due to the benefits of breastfeeding for infants, mothers, and societies, it is estimated that the deaths of 823,000 children and 20,000 mothers can be averted annually through universal breastfeeding.[1]
We investigated whether we can use these changes in tissue composition to estimate the currently unreported time-dependence and duration of the mammary involution process
We can observe a decrease in the overall absorption spectra for both the region of interest (ROI)
Summary
Due to the benefits of breastfeeding for infants, mothers, and societies, it is estimated that the deaths of 823,000 children and 20,000 mothers can be averted annually through universal breastfeeding.[1]. Few imaging and sensing modalities have been exploited to investigate lactation physiology in the human mammary gland in vivo. In the past 15 years, ultrasound imaging has played an important role in (re)defining the anatomy and physiology of the lactating breast.[5,6] The other major noninvasive breast imaging modalities—magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and mammography—have been applied to study the human
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