Multi-Modality Breast Cancer Assessment Tools Using Diffuse Optical and Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy

Diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS) and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are promising non-invasive and non-ionizing techniques for breast anomaly detection. This research aims at development of low-cost and novel hand-held devices that are able to differentiate between malignant and benign lesions in human subjects. Three probes have been designed and developed in this research, including a diffuse optical spectroscopy probe for measuring the optical properties of breast tissue, a combined diffuse optical spectroscopy probe with electrical impedance spectroscopy probe for measuring the optical and electrical properties of the breast tissue simultaneously, and a diffuse optical breast-scanning (DOB-Scan) probe for creating cross-sectional optical images of the breast.In addition to a detailed description of the developed instruments, two studies are presented: a phantom study detecting inhomogeneity in the homogeneous phantom using DOS and DOB-Scan probe, and a clinical study to diagnosis malignant lesions in the patients who have breast cancer.The DOS-EIS probe was successfully used in an initial clinical study on cancer patients, and the results conclusively demonstrated its ability to differentiate between cancerous breast tissue and healthy tissue using diffuse optical spectroscopy combined with electrical impedance spectroscopy. The results of DOB-Scan imaging probe in the clinical study reflect that the probe can capture malignant tissues underneath of the probe. These studies demonstrate that diffuse optical spectroscopy and electrical impedance spectroscopy are valuable modalities that can play an important role in breast tumor detection and monitoring.