Diffuse optical imaging with structured-light illumination and detection can provide rapid, wide-field anatomical and functional imaging of the breast with an application for breast cancer screening. Our aims for this study were to test the feasibility of structured-light, test our pattern set, and develop and optimize our image reconstruction algorithm. For our phantom studies, we created an agar phantom with dimensions similar to a compressed breast. A cubic inclusion of 30mm by 30mm by 25mm with twice the amount of absorption contrast than the background was placed at the center. Near-infrared light of eleven patterns including a full illumination and single stripes was illuminated onto the breast phantom and detected with a CCD camera, with integration of the signals according to the patterns performed post-data acquisition, with a total of 121 measurements. These measurements were then used in our reconstruction algorithm that iteratively minimized the difference between the collected data and the estimation from our FEM-based forward model of photon diffusion to calculate the absorption values. Reconstructions of the 3D absorption maps detect an inclusion at the center and indicate that our selected set of patterns may be sufficient for structured-light imaging. We are currently improving our instrumentation and testing with additional phantom studies, while also performing simulations of numerical breast phantoms created from MR images to test structured-light’s ability to image complex and realistic breast tissue composition. We hope to use this technique as optical method to image molecular markers, such as hemoglobin, water and lipid, within the breast.

Date Published: 5 March 2015
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 9319, Optical Tomography and Spectroscopy of Tissue XI, 93190K (5 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2079805

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9319:
Optical Tomography and Spectroscopy of Tissue XI
Bruce J. Tromberg; Arjun G. Yodh; Eva Marie Sevick-Muraca; Robert R. Alfano, Editor(s)