CT guided DOT for Breast cancer imaging
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Chemotherapy is used widely for breast cancer treatment to improve the survival, especially of young women under 50. Chemotherapy given before surgery, called neoadjuvant chemotherapy, enables patients to undergo breast conservation therapy without risking a higher recurrence associated with simply removing larger tumors. Monitoring neoadjuvant chemotherapy provides evidence of responsiveness to the chosen chemotherapeutic drugs. If evidence of responsive is not observed, the monitoring process makes it possible to change the therapeutic drugs early in the treatment process. Hence patients will receive individualized therapy, be spared from unnecessary toxicity, and be treated with more effective drugs early. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tumor responsive to chemotherapy results in changes in blood concentrations that can be monitored by optical tomography. Optical tomography imaging has been used to monitor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy previously. However, the low quality of the optical tomography limits its applications. X-ray CT can provide the location and size of breast lesions, especially for the patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Optical tomography systems can be combined with x-ray CT systems at a very low extra cost. CT will guide the optical tomography imaging to improve its image quality. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The question(s) or central hypotheses of the research: 
 
 
 
 Hypothesis 1: CT guidance will improve the spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy of the optical tomography imaging. 
 
 
 
 Hypothesis 2: CT guided optical tomography can monitor the breast cancer response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy at an early time. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The general methodology: We will use laser beams in the optical tomography imaging. The laser beams will be projected at different locations on the breast surface. Laser photons will be absorbed and scattered inside the breast. Most photons will be absorbed. Some photons will escape to the breast surface and detected by a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera as measurements for the optical tomography imaging. Laser beam will be scattered and blurred by breast tissues. Thus optical tomography imaging usually has a low spatial resolution. CT will improve the spatial resolution of optical tomography imaging by adding tumor location information in the optical imaging algorithms. There are two operational, dedicated breast CT imaging systems in Professor John M. Boone’s lab at UC Davis Medical Center. We will mount our optical imaging system inside one of the CT imaging systems. CT imaging will be performed first for about 17 seconds. Then the optical tomography will be performed for about 10 minutes. Optical imaging algorithm with CT guidance will be developed. Interference between the two systems will be evaluated and is expected to be negligible. At last, we will scan three patients and monitor their breast cancer’s responses to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Innovative elements of the project: Compared with the current monitoring methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and optical tomography, the CT guided optical tomography imaging has innovation elements listed below: 
 
 
 
 1. It will be the first CT guided optical tomography system for breast cancer imaging in the world. 
 
 
 
 2.The CT system is ready. It is straightforward for us to combine the optical imaging system with the CT imaging system. 
 
 
 
 3. he cost to combine the optical tomography imaging system in the CT system is low. The cost to monitor the chemotherapy is low. 
 
 
 
 4. The interference between two imaging systems is negligible. 
 
 
 
 5. The total imaging system cost is low compared with MRI system, much more affordable to patients. 
 
 
 
 6. The CT has very low radiation dose (equal or less than two-view mammography). The optical imaging has no radiation dose. 
 
 
 
 7. The CT guided optical tomography system could be used for breast cancer detection (while it is not part of this proposal). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Publications: 
 
 
 
 Kernel-based anatomically-aided diffuse optical tomography reconstruction