Abstract
The optical characterization of malignant and benign breast lesions is presented. Time-resolved transmittance measurements were performed in the 630-1060 nm range by means of a 7-wavelength optical mammograph, providing both imaging and spectroscopy information. A total of 62 lesions were analyzed, including 33 malignant and 29 benign lesions. The characterization of breast lesions was performed applying a perturbation model based on the high-order calculation of the pathlength of photons inside the lesion, which led to the assessment of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin, lipids, water and collagen concentrations. Significant variations between tumor and healthy tissue were observed in terms of both absorption properties and constituents concentration. In particular, benign lesions and tumors show a statistically significant discrimination in terms of absorption at several wavelengths and also in terms of oxy-hemoglobin and collagen content.
Highlights
Breast cancer is one of the most common tumors and one of the leading causes of death in women [1]
Breast screening essentially relies on X-ray mammography, which is the first line of defense in the early diagnosis of the breast cancer
Significant p-values are obtained for oxy-hemoglobin and collagen. This suggests that benign and malignant lesions could potentially be discriminated on the basis of these two constituents, even if the difference is not highly significant. These results could be relevant for the discrimination of benign and malignant lesions since they are in line with what is known from pathology, namely that the development of breast cancer tissue involves neoangiogenesis and the presence of a marked stromal component, rich in collagen
Summary
Breast cancer is one of the most common tumors and one of the leading causes of death in women [1]. Many countries (e.g. U.K., Italy, Australia) offer screening programs to women for prevention, typically between 50 and 70 years of age, since early diagnosis and consequent therapy significantly reduces mortality and could improve the quality of life [3]. In addition to its non-invasive nature, optical mammography has the capability to investigate dense breasts, typical of young women. Breast lesion characterization by non-invasive optical means is important since the evaluation of lesion composition could lead to reduce the biopsy examination, which at present is the only one able to establish the histological nature of the lesions, but it is invasive
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