Phase-Contrast Diffuse Optical Tomography: Pilot Results in the Breast

Liang, Xiaoping; Zhang, Qizhi; Li, Changqing; Grobmyer, Stephen R.; Fajardo, Laurie L.; Jiang, Huabei

doi:10.1016/j.acra.2008.01.028

« Previous Next »Academic Radiology
Volume 15, Issue 7 , Pages 859-866, July 2008

Phase-Contrast Diffuse Optical Tomography:1

Pilot Results in the Breast

Xiaoping Liang, MS
- J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, 130 BME Building/PO Box 116131, Gainesville, FL 32611
Qizhi Zhang, PhD
- J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, 130 BME Building/PO Box 116131, Gainesville, FL 32611
Changqing Li, PhD
- J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, 130 BME Building/PO Box 116131, Gainesville, FL 32611
Stephen R. Grobmyer, MD
- Department of Surgery, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
Laurie L. Fajardo, MD
- Department of Radiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242.
Huabei Jiang, PhD
- J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, 130 BME Building/PO Box 116131, Gainesville, FL 32611
- Address correspondence to: H.J.

Received 28 August 2007; accepted 22 January 2008.

Rationale and Objectives

We sought to investigate the utility of phase-contrast diffuse optical tomography (PCDOT) for differentiation of malignant and benign breast masses in humans and to compare PCDOT with conventional diffuse optical tomography (DOT) for analysis of breast masses in humans.

Materials and Methods

Thirty-five breast masses were imaged in 33 patients (mean age, 51 years; range, 22–80) using PCDOT. Images characterizing the tissue refractive index, and absorption and scattering coefficients of breast masses were obtained with a finite element-based reconstruction algorithm. Theses images were then analyzed and compared with the biopsy/pathology results for all the cases examined.

Results

Malignant lesions tended to have a decreased refractive index, allowing them to be discriminated from benign lesions in most cases, whereas absorption and scattering images were unable to accurately discriminate benign from malignant lesions. The sensitivity, specificity, false-positive value, and overall accuracy for refractive index imaging were 81.8%, 70.8%, 29.2%, and 74.3%, respectively. The accuracy of refractive index imaging increases with increasing patient age.