A possible approach to optical mammography consists of a planar tandem scan of a light source and an optical detector in a transmission geometry. The main difficulty with interpreting the data collected in this sampling geometry arises from edge effects, which are due to variable breast thickness within the scanned region and to photon losses through the sides of the breast. We have developed an algorithm for frequency-domain data analysis that corrects for edge effects, thus providing significantly enhanced image contrast with respect to raw data images. The application of our algorithm to data collected in vivo strongly improves the detectability of optical inhomogeneities in the breast.

Date Published: 18 December 1995
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 2626, Photon Propagation in Tissues, (18 December 1995); doi: 10.1117/12.228669

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2626:
Photon Propagation in Tissues
Britton Chance; David T. Delpy; Gerhard J. Mueller, Editor(s)