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Tracking the Mammary Architectural Features and Detecting Breast Cancer with Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: December 15, 2014
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Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for enhanced diagnostic precision in breast cancer
Lianne Feenstra1,2, Marcos Da Silva Guimaraes3, Caroline A Drukker4
1Image-Guided Surgery, Department of Surgical Oncology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. l.feenstra@nki.nl.
Journal of Translational Medicine
|December 20, 2025
Summary
Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) guided vacuum-assisted breast biopsy (VABB) shows promise in improving diagnostic accuracy. This optical guidance may reduce repeat procedures and speed up breast cancer treatment.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical optics
- Medical imaging
- Cancer diagnostics
Background:
- Vacuum-assisted breast biopsy (VABB) is crucial for breast cancer diagnosis but can suffer from sampling errors.
- These errors may lead to repeat procedures, delaying patient treatment.
- Optically guided VABB using Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) offers a potential solution to enhance biopsy precision.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate an optically guided system for VABB using DRS.
- To assess the feasibility of real-time tissue characterization during the biopsy procedure.
Main Methods:
- An optical introducer with integrated optical fibers was developed for use with standard VABB needles.
- Ex vivo DRS measurements were conducted on 90 lumpectomy specimens.
- Machine learning classifiers were trained on spectral data, with tissue labels derived from histology.
Main Results:
- Ensemble models achieved up to 94% sensitivity at a 20% tumor threshold.
- High performance was maintained even at lower tumor thresholds.
- DRS demonstrated real-time tissue characterization capabilities at extended fiber distances.
Conclusions:
- DRS can characterize tissue in real-time, potentially improving VABB precision.
- Further in vivo studies are necessary to validate performance.
- Integration of DRS into routine VABB workflows could enhance diagnostic accuracy.
