Heterodyne frequency domain multispectral diffuse optical tomography of breast cancer in the parallel plane transmission geometry.
PURPOSE The authors introduce a state of the art all optical clinical diffuse optical tomography (DOT) imaging instrument which collects spatially dense, multispectral, frequency domain breast data in the parallel plate geometry. METHODS The instrument utilizes a CCD based heterodyne detection scheme that permits massively parallel detection of diffuse photon density wave amplitude and phase for a large number of source detector pairs (10(6) The stand alone clinical DOT instrument thus offers high spatial resolution with reduced crosstalk between absorption and scattering. Other novel features include a fringe profilometry system for breast boundary segmentation, real time data normalization, and a patient bed design which permits both axial and sagittal breast measurements. RESULTS The authors validated the instrument using tissue simulating phantoms with two different chromophore containing targets and one scattering target. The authors also demonstrated the instrument in a case study breast cancer patient; the reconstructed 3D image of endogenous chromophores and scattering gave tumor localization in agreement with MRI. CONCLUSIONS Imaging with a novel parallel plate DOT breast imager that employs highly parallel, high resolution CCD detection in the frequency domain was demonstrated.
Medical physics