Next generation near infrared (NIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) wearables for breast cancer imaging

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is a common breast cancer treatment that involves administering chemotherapy for 3-6 months prior to surgery. This treatment enables more breast-conserving surgeries and even allows for the omission of surgery in some cases. However, about 31% of patients receiving NAC do not respond to the treatment. Therefore, there is a need for real-time methods to predict treatment response and improve patient outcomes. Over the last two decades, diffuse optical imaging has been investigated as a potential solution to this problem. This noninvasive and inexpensive technology uses near or shortwave infrared (NIR or SWIR) light to illuminate tissue, and detects multiply-scattered photons. However, bulky instrumentation and complicated imaging procedures have limited the clinical adoption of this technology. Furthermore, measured biomarkers including oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin (HbO2 and HHb, respectively), water, and lipid, have had mixed results in terms of prognostic capability. To address these limitations, a new wearable optical probe technology was developed and validated in this project, including a high-optode density NIR probe for monitoring hemodynamics and a first-generation SWIR probe for quantifying water and lipid. Measurements on tissue-mimicking channel flow phantoms confirmed the ability of the NIR probe to quantify absorption contrast in vitro, and a cuff occlusion measurement demonstrated sensitivity to HbO2 and HHb in vivo. Hemodynamic oscillations at the respiratory rate were also explored in healthy volunteers and breast cancer patients as a potential new biomarker. It was demonstrated that traditional and novel breathing-related hemodynamic metrics provide tumor contrast and can potentially track treatment response. A deep-learning algorithm was developed to extract water and lipid concentrations from multi-distance SWIR measurements. The SWIR probe was validated by comparing measured water and lipid concentrations against ground truth values in emulsion phantoms. This work represents a significant step toward the development of technologies for frequent breast cancer treatment monitoring in the clinic and potentially at home.

Author dc:creator

• Spink, Samuel S.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Roblyer, Darren

• Medical imaging
• Diffuse optics
• Optical probe
• Reflectance spectroscopy

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2144/46643

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.bu.edu:2144/46643