3-D Simultaneous Ultrasound and NIR Imaging for Breast Cancer Detection

The investigators propose to validate the utility of their novel hybrid imaging technique for accurate diagnosis of breast lesions, and for assessing chemotherapy response of cancer treatment and predicting treatment efficacy. The investigators' unique hybrid technique is implemented by simultaneously deploying near infrared (NIR) optical sensors and a commercial ultrasound (US) transducer mounted on a hand-held probe, and utilizing co-registered lesion structure information provided by ultrasound to improve the optical tomography.

As a result, the optical tomography assisted with US has overcome problems associated with intense light scattering and has provided reliable tumor angiogenesis distributions. Initial results with a small group of patients who underwent biopsy have shown that early stage invasive cancers present two-fold greater total hemoglobin concentration on average than fibroadenomas and other benign lesions. Initial results of advanced cancers have shown that the angiogenesis distribution is highly distorted and heterogeneous, and the distorted distributions correlate with histological microvessel density counts and can be used to assess chemotherapy response.

The objective of this study is to validate the investigators' initial results that NIR light guided by ultrasound can improve breast cancer diagnosis and monitor chemotherapy response.