Sensitivity of laser opto-acoustic imaging in detection of smalldeeply embedded tumors

摘要

Current imaging modalities fail to detect small tumors in thenbreast. Opto-acoustic tomography is a novel technique for early cancerndetection with promising diagnostic capability. The experimental limitnof sensitivity and maximal depth of the laser opto-acoustic detectionnfor small model tumors located within bulk phantom tissue were studied.nTwo phantoms with optical properties similar to that of breast tissue innthe near infrared spectral range were used in these studies: turbidngelatin slabs with the thickness of 100 mm and chicken breast musclenslabs with the thickness of up to 80 mm. Gelatin spheres with enhancednabsorption coefficient relative to the background absorption and liverntissue were used to simulate small tumors. The experiments demonstratednthe capability of laser optoacoustic imaging to detect and localizenphantom tumors with the diameter of 2 mm at a depth of up to 60 mmnwithin the gelatin phantoms and 3×2×0.6-mm piece of liverntissue within 80-mm chicken breast tissue. Theoretical studies onnsensitivity of opto-acoustic detection at various diameters, depths ofnlocation, and absorption coefficients of small tumors were performednusing the experimental data. Our results suggest that the opto-acousticnimaging may occupy a significant niche in early detection of cancer innthe breast and other organs