Optical biopsy: in-vivo diagnosis of breast cancer using elastic scatter spectroscopy

摘要

Abstract: Elastic scattering or diffuse reflectance spectroscopy offers the possibility of distinguishing between cancerous and non- cancerous tissue in the breast with a relatively simple optical measurement. The measurement of the relative reflection of light has previously been shown to be sensitive to both the size and distribution of intra and inter-cellular structures as well as absorption from chromophores, which are present in the tissue. Coupling a white light source and spectrometer to optic fibers makes it possible to construct probes that can be inserted percutaneously or used intra- operatively to take in-vivo spectra from breast tissue or ex- vivo spectra from excised sentinel nodes. This 'optical biopsy' is correlated with a conventional histopathological specimen obtained at the same point. Spectra are reported from a large number of patients with benign and malignant lesions. Some of the differences that appear in these spectra are outlined and the uses and limitations of this technique for in-vivo diagnosis are discussed. It is shown that to a relatively high degree of sensitivity and specificity it is possible to distinguish between malignant tumors, benign lesions and normal tissue. !4