title: Review of optical breast imaging and spectroscopy.
abstract: Diffuse optical imaging and spectroscopy of the female breast is an area of active research. We review the present status of this field and discuss the broad range of methodologies and applications. Starting with a brief overview on breast physiology, the remodeling of vasculature and extracellular matrix caused by solid tumors is highlighted that is relevant for contrast in optical imaging. Then, the various instrumental techniques and the related methods of data analysis and image generation are described and compared including multimodality instrumentation, fluorescence mammography, broadband spectroscopy, and diffuse correlation spectroscopy. We review the clinical results on functional properties of malignant and benign breast lesions compared to host tissue and discuss the various methods to improve contrast between healthy and diseased tissue, such as enhanced spectroscopic information, dynamic variations of functional properties, pharmacokinetics of extrinsic contrast agents, including the enhanced permeability and retention effect. We discuss research on monitoring neoadjuvant chemotherapy and on breast cancer risk assessment as potential clinical applications of optical breast imaging and spectroscopy. Moreover, we consider new experimental approaches, such as photoacoustic imaging and long-wavelength tissue spectroscopy.
authors.affiliation: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Abbestrasse 2-12, 10587 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grosenick
authors.affiliation: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Abbestrasse 2-12, 10587 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rinneberg
authors.affiliation: Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Fisica, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Rinaldo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cubeddu
authors.affiliation: Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Fisica, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Taroni
mesh_terms: D001940:Breast / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D061848:Optical Imaging; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D041622:Tomography, Optical