title: Near-infrared fluorescent dyes for enhanced contrast in optical mammography: phantom experiments.
abstract: Optical mammography with near-infrared (NIR) light using time-domain, frequency-domain, or continuous-wave techniques is a novel imaging modality to locate human breast tumors. By investigating excised specimens of normal and diseased mamma tissue we were able to demonstrate that differences in their scattering properties are a poor predictive parameter for normal and diseased mamma tissue. This paper describes the application of a NIR dye to improve the differentiation between breast tumors and normal tissue in a rat model. The NIR dye furnished a high tumor-to-tissue contrast ratio (6:1) in fluorescence images. Furthermore, this dye was used to develop liquid scattering phantoms with absorbing and fluorescent inhomogeneities. Using frequency-domain and time-domain instrumentation these inhomogeneities were localized at sufficient contrast by their increased absorption and fluorescence. Contrast between inhomogeneities and surrounding medium could be improved by combining fluorescence and transmittance images.
authors.affiliation: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Abbestrasse 2-12, D-10587 Berlin, Germany. bernd.ebert@ptb.de
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ebert
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sukowski
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grosenick
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wabnitz
authors.forename: K T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Moesta
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Licha
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Semmler
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Schlag
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rinneberg
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002232:Carbocyanines; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D008327:Mammography / Q000379:methods*; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012016:Reference Values; D012542:Scattering, Radiation
chemical_list: C430879:1,1'-bis-(4-sulfobutyl)indotricarbocyanine-5,5'-dicarboxylic acid diglucamide; D002232:Carbocyanines; D003287:Contrast Media; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes