Near-Infrared Handheld Probe and Imaging System for Breast Tumor Localization

Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is a breast imaging modality that measures the functional characteristics of breast lesions using near-infrared (NIR) light to calculate the optical properties (scattering and absorption coefficients) of breast tissues. In this study, we have developed a NIR diffuse optical breast scanning (DOB-Scan) probe and evaluated a new imaging method based on a modified diffusion equation (MDE) for breast tumor localization. The probe is applied to breast phantoms to collect reflectance or the intensity of backscattered light. To measure the optical properties of the phantoms, we also calculated the reflectance theoretically, where we initially utilized the original diffusion equation (DE) to arrive at the theoretical reflectance. However, the DE algorithm has several limitations, which require modification of the DE formula to match the experimental results before obtaining the optical properties. Finally, the imaging algorithm is used to map the optical properties to cross-sectional images, which can localize the abnormalities in the breast phantoms. These findings suggest the DOB-Scan probe has valuable potential for breast cancer detection and diagnosis.