In this presentation, we introduce the initial patient imaging results of our dual-scan mammoscope system. The goal is to verify whether the system can differentiate malignant and healthy cases. We have imaged 38 patients with various cancer types and compared results of tumor breast with healthy breast for each patient. At 95% confidence level, we found that tumor breasts exhibit higher average photoacoustic signal amplitude, higher vessel signal amplitude, and stronger variation in background signals. We could also visualize different vascular features in and around the tumor region for different subtypes of tumors. Our preliminary results indicate that photoacoustic technology has a high potential for breast imaging.
We have developed a photoacoustics-based imaging system that combines optical contrasts with acoustic detection, to obtain a snapshot of the angiographic features in human breast. The system uses near-infrared (NIR) light at 1064 nm wavelength for excitation and hemoglobin in blood as endogenous contrast agent. The light source is a 10 ns Nd:YAG laser with 10-Hz pulse repetition rate. Tumor-angiogenesis, the increase in neovasculature in rapidly growing tumors, is a known biomarker for malignancy. By mapping total hemoglobin levels, we are able to pinpoint the tumor location based on vessel density. For acoustic detection, two 128-element linear-array transducers with 2.25 MHz central frequency are employed. Photoacoustic data is acquired by scanning the breast mildly compressed in the craniocaudal plane, similar to a mammogram, with a scan time of less than 1 minute. The system simultaneously acquires ultrasound (US) data, which can be correlated easily with the photoacoustic data obtained as well as clinical ultrasound images. The photoacoustic images can also be correlated with maximum intensity projection (MIP) subtraction images of contrast MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) 6 minutes post-injection of Gadolinium, and the same vessels could be identified. With our dual transducer geometry, we are able to visualize through 7 cm of breast tissue, a first in this field. The resolution was measured to be 0.97 mm in lateral and 1.05 mm in elevational directions. Our system offers high spatial resolution, fast imaging capability, and convenient correlation with all existing imaging modalities, along with better sensitivity towards dense breast tissue.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.