Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy: towards clinical application in breast cancer

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Diagnostics
• Oncology

Background:

• Breast cancer diagnosis faces challenges due to tissue heterogeneity.
• Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) shows promise but requires addressing inter-patient variability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of DRS by comparing normal and malignant breast tissue within individual patients.
• To establish an individualized DRS analysis method for improved breast cancer detection.

Main Methods:

• Ex vivo analysis of breast tissue from 47 female patients using DRS.
• Collection and analysis of 1,073 optical spectra.
• Comparison of individual patient data analysis with collective data analysis against pathology results.

Main Results:

• Collective analysis yielded 90% sensitivity, 88% specificity, and 89% accuracy.
• Individualized analysis achieved nearly 100% discriminative accuracy, with only one uncertain case.
• Individual patient analysis demonstrated superior diagnostic performance over cohort analysis.

Conclusions:

• Intra-patient analysis of optical characteristics via DRS is more accurate than cohort-based approaches for breast cancer diagnosis.
• DRS, when integrated into biopsy devices, has the potential to enhance breast cancer diagnostic workflows.