Association of the terahertz refractive index and morphological dilation operations for breast carcinoma detection

Breast conservative surgeries are performed to remove the cancer and the surrounding tissue while preserving the breast itself. The precise definition of breast tumor margins is essential to reduce the re-excision rate. In that context, the potential of morphological dilations applied to terahertz refractive index maps of breast tissues was investigated. Several morphological dilation geometries were studied. The method has shown a sensitivity of around 80% and a sensitivity of 82% for the best case. These results indicate that the combination of fundamental optical properties of tissues, denoted by the refractive index, and morphological dilation may open avenues for defining accompanying procedures in breast-conserving surgery.