Combined Breast Tomosynthesis and Near Infrared Spectroscopy for Cancer Detection

描述（由申请人提供）：本资助申请响应项目通告号PA-11-110 （Ruth L. Kirschstein国家研究服务奖，用于个人博士前博士/博士和其他双博士学位研究员），提出了一项使用联合近红外（NIR）光谱断层扫描（NIRST）和数字乳房断层合成（DBT）系统研究健康和恶性乳腺组织之间光学特征差异的研究。这是一个单一的检查平台，将通过NIRST获得的功能参数与DBT提供的高分辨率三维结构信息协同结合，用于乳腺癌监测。本研究旨在检查和消除临床实施和受试者参与的几个潜在障碍，以及优化检测癌症的系统性能。通过对健康乳房和患病乳房的临床检查，本项目将研究光散射参数、x射线密度和其他DBT特征之间的关系，目的是通过DBT估计光散射，从而消除对光学硬件进行散射测量的需要。光学幻影将独立验证对比度恢复线性和散射估计。本研究将通过在两种压缩水平下进行联合扫描，分析健康和患病受试者在NIRST/DBT检查期间乳房压缩水平对光学组织特征的影响。确定感兴趣区域（ROI）和背景之间的光学对比度水平将在每个压缩水平下对每个受试者进行表征，并且还将比较每个水平上的DBT图像。这部分研究的重点是确定什么样的压缩水平可以最准确地识别病变，并评估全面压缩检查的必要性。此外，将病理结果与疾病受试者的NIRST/DBT图像进行比较，以进一步了解光学特性测量的生物学起源。在拟议的资助期结束时，我们希望对组织散射的本质、乳房压缩的影响以及产生图像对比度的乳腺癌的潜在组织病理学有更多的了解。这些进步将指导优化NIRST/DBT系统的硬件和软件组件，以增加与单独DBT相比，组合系统显著改善ROC特征和阳性预测价值的可能性，同时最大限度地降低系统成本和复杂性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This grant application responds to Program Announcement Number PA-11-110 (Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD and Other Dual Doctoral Degree Fellows) by proposing a study on the differences in optical signatures between healthy and malignant breast tissue using a combined Near Infrared (NIR) spectral tomography (NIRST) and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) system. This is a single exam platform that synergistically combines the functional parameters obtained through NIRST with the high-resolution three-dimensional structural information available from DBT for breast cancer surveillance. This study aims to examine and eliminate several potential barriers to clinical implementation and subject participation as well a optimize system performance for detection of cancer. Through clinical exams of both healthy and diseased breasts, this project will examine relationships between optical scattering parameters, X-ray density and other DBT characteristics with the goal of estimating optical scattering from the DBT, eliminating the need for optical hardware for scattering measurements. Optical phantoms will independently verify contrast recovery linearity and scatter estimation. The study will analyze the effects of breast compression levels during the NIRST/DBT exam on optical tissue signatures in both healthy and diseased subjects, by performing combined scans at two compression levels. Determination of optical contrast levels between a region of interest (ROI) and background will be characterized for each subject at each compression level and DBT images at each level will also be compared. The focus of this part of the study is to identify what compression level can most accurately identify lesions and evaluate the necessity of full compression exams. Furthermore, comparisons between pathologic results and NIRST/DBT images of subjects with disease will be performed in order to further understand the biological origins of the optical property measurements. By the end of the proposed funding period, we expect to have developed an increased knowledge of the nature of tissue scattering, the effects of breast compression and the underlying histopathology of breast cancer that creates image contrast. These advances will direct optimization of the hardware and software components of NIRST/DBT system to increase the likelihood of significantly improved ROC characteristics and positive predictive value of a combined system compared to DBT alone while simultaneously minimizing system cost and complexity.