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. 2019 Aug 1;10(8):4305-4315.
doi: 10.1364/BOE.10.004305.

Diffuse optical tomography of the breast: a potential modifiable biomarker of breast cancer risk with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Mirella L Altoe  1 , Alessandro Marone  1 , Hyun K Kim  2 , Kevin Kalinsky  3 , Dawn L Hershman  3 , Andreas H Hielscher  1   2   4 , Richard S Ha  2
Affiliations

Diffuse optical tomography of the breast: a potential modifiable biomarker of breast cancer risk with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Mirella L Altoe et al. Biomed Opt Express. .

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a diffuse optical tomography breast imaging system (DOTBIS) can provide a comparable optical-based image index of mammographic breast density, an established biomarker of breast cancer risk. Oxyhemoglobin concentration (ctO2Hb) measured by DOTBIS was collected from 40 patients with stage II-III breast cancer. The tumor-free contralateral breast was used for this evaluation. We observed a moderate positive correlation between the patient's mammogram density classification and ctO2Hb, rs = 0.486 (p = 0.001). In addition, significant reduction in ctO2Hb levels were noted during neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment (p = 0.017). This observation indicates that ctO2Hb levels measured by DOTBIS could be a novel modifiable imaging biomarker of breast cancer risk and warrants further investigation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to this article.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Left: photograph of the custom-built diffuse optical tomographic breast imaging system (DOTBIS). Right: patient placed in the probe for imaging. The patient interface consists of two sets of four rings that can be adjusted to provide customized setting for different breast cup sizes.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Corresponding mammogram (MMG) and DOTBIS image. MIP images (axial orientation) were acquired at baseline in the contralateral normal breast of 42-year-old women (BD I), 40-year-old women (BD II), a 36-year-old women (BD III) and a 46-year-old women (BD IV). Nipples were excluded.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Simple box plot of ctO2Hb (μM) in the contralateral breast at baseline for different mammogram (MMG) breast density groups (I = almost all fatty tissue, II = scattered areas of dense glandular and fibrous tissue, III = heterogeneously dense and IV = extremely dense). Group I and IV had only one patient each. There was a moderate positive correlation between ctO2Hb at baseline and breast density (rs = 0.486, p = 0.001).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Left: Grouped scatter plot for reduction comparison between ctO2Hb (μM) at baseline versus ctO2Hb before third NAC cycle (n = 35). Right: Grouped scatter plot for reduction comparison between ctO2Hb (μM) at baseline versus after NAC completion (n = 24).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Mean values of ctO2Hb levels across NAC therapy for the patients imaged at all the 3 time points (n = 18).
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
A linear regression fitting indicates a moderate negative correlation between baseline ctO2Hb and age (r = −0.439, p = 0.005). The scatterplot shows line of the best fit and its confidence and prediction interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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