A Combined Experiment and Modeling Approach for Advancing Terahertz Imaging of Three Dimensional Breast Cancer Tumors

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Proposal Title: A Combined Experiment and Modeling Approach for Advancing Terahertz Imaging of Three Dimensinal Breast Cancer Tumors.Institution: Unniversity of ArkansasThis project will make important contributions in imaging and sensing applications of cancerous tissue and will result in major advances in diagnosing cancerous excised breast samples . It will have a major societal impact and will result in significant savings in health care. Advancing THz imaging algorithms will impact other applications of THz technology in defense, national security and industry.Many women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer choose to have a breast-conserving lumpectomy. Unfortunately, in 20-70% of lumpectomy surgeries, the tumor has positive margins that cannot be identified during the first surgery, and a second surgery must be performed to remove the remaining cancer. This delay between surgeries adds to both the cost and risk of breast cancer treatment. The proposed research will significantly impact women?s health by advancing the assessment of tumor margins, reducing cancer recurrence and mortality, and thereby improving the quality of life for breast cancer patients. The success of this research will lead to a decrease in the rate of second surgeries and hence a reduction in health insurance cost. The project will also impact education and research programs by involving graduate and undergraduate students in hands-on training with terahertz technology and will provide unique training opportunities for underrepresented and minority students who will be recruited from well-established diversity programs at the University of Arkansas. Advancing terahertz imaging algorithms will greatly benefit other potential applications in defense, national security, and the semiconductor industry. The goal of this research is to advance terahertz imaging for real-time assessment of excised breast cancer tumor margins in breast-conserving lumpectomy surgery. Terahertz technology has recently emerged as a promising medical imaging modality as it provides non-destructive, non-invasive, and real-time evaluation of biological tissue. Terahertz imaging uses electromagnetic radiation that can retrieve information of the structural and chemical attributes of cancer tissue that may not be visible with other techniques. The proposed approach will incorporate electromagnetic modeling, terahertz measurements, and image reconstruction algorithms to offer quantitative analysis of tumor margins. The finite difference time domain method will be employed as the primary electromagnetic model to simulate the terahertz interaction with cancer tissue. The Debye model will be developed using the experimental spectroscopy measurements of various tissue samples. The use of this model will advance the understanding of the fundamental physics involved in terahertz wave interaction with realistic, three dimensional, highly heterogeneous tumor tissues. The success of using terahertz technology in the assessment of breast cancer tumor margins will lay the groundwork for future robust and accurate imaging techniques than can be used intraoperatively. The proposed research will open future opportunities for integrating engineering knowledge and medical imaging research.