Increased spatial resolution in transillumination using collimated light

In traditional transillumination of the breast (diaphanography), the abundance of diffuse light resulting from the use of extended noncollimated sources reduces the visibility of deep seated lesions. A prototype scanning imaging system has been developed to investigate the effectiveness of thin collimated light beams (1.5 mm cross section) synchronized with a similarly collimated detector to increase contrast in lesions normally lost due to the detection of diffuse light. The study demonstrates that detection of opaque 1.5 mm details is possible in phantoms simulating breast tissues 6 mm thick regardless of depth. This is about 10 times better than images obtained on the same samples using present transillumination methods. Furthermore, this study indicates that internal structures (lesions, cysts) in up to 12 mm thick excised breast sections can be visualized by exploiting their frequency-dependent attenuation. This is accomplished by inserting 50 nm interference filters in the input light path, which can be varied in a stepwise manner in the range of 400 nm to 1000 nm. These results demonstrate for the first time that images of lesion-bearing 1 cm or larger tissues can be obtained, thus opening promising possibilities for whole-breast imaging.