Laser-Based Breast Scanner Can Detect Subtle Changes That May Lead To Cancer.(breast cancer)

2001 MAR 15 -- (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new laser-based scanner can -- for the first time without surgery or other invasive techniques -- detect subtle physiological changes in breast tissue that may lead to new ways to detect and treat cancer, a research group at the University of California Irvine College of Medicine's Beckman Laser Institute has found.

The research suggests that the scanner could diagnose breast cancer at earlier stages than currently possible, may more accurately detect cancer in younger women who are harder to diagnose, and may aid in the use of therapies such as chemotherapy and hormone replacement. The findings were published in the February 2001 issue of Academic Radiology.

Bruce Tromberg, professor, and Albert Cerussi, postdoctoral fellow at the Beckman Laser Institute, developed the laser breast scanner, which uses a technique known as "frequency domain diffuse optical spectroscopy" to detect minute physiological changes in the water, fat, and hemoglobin making up female breast tissue. These changes matched known microscopic alterations in breast tissue that occur as women age. Changes in breast tissue components are possible indicators of the beginning of breast cancer.

"This scanner yielded quantitative information about changes in breast tissue that cannot be obtained with noninvasive techniques like mammography, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or ultrasound," Tromberg said. "Because we can obtain precise information about changes in the way the components of breast tissue function, we hope to be able to detect precancerous and cancerous conditions earlier, especially in young women, whose breast tissue can be too dense for mammography. Women who have gone through menopause and are receiving hormone replacement therapy also can have dense mammograms and also may benefit from this scanning technique."

By scanning 28 volunteers, ages 18 through 64, the team measured how fat, water, hemoglobin (the iron-containing center of red blood cells), and other components changed as women aged. The hand-held scanner, ...