Patent Application: US-201414517398-A

Abstract:
an exemplary apparatus can be provided to determine information regarding a sample , which can include , for example an arrangement composed of , at least partially , a particular material in a predetermined area thereof , and including a light facilitating device that can be configured to provide or receive a light radiation to or from the sample . the particular material can have a characteristic which can facilitate a sufficient amount of x - ray radiation to pass therethrough so as to generate an x - ray image . an x - ray absorption of the material can be at most about 10 times that of a ¼ ″ acrylic plate . the light facilitating device can include a light transmitting configuration which can provide the light radiation to the sample .

Description:
combining dot with x - ray mammography can provide a variety of possible advantages for breast screening and tumor diagnosis . first , the two modalities can be complementary with respect to resolution and diagnostic information . second , a multi - modality breast imaging system built upon x - ray mammography can rely on its strengths , such as good accessibility and established image interpretations , making it readily available for screening . furthermore , the incremental manner of adding new diagnostic information to an existing modality can potentially lower the barriers to gaining acceptance from the radiology community . a multi - modal breast imaging system combining dot with digital breast tomosynthesis (“ dbt ”) can be provided . an exemplary tomographic optical breast imager (“ tobi ”) shown in fig1 a and 1b , was made for producing spatially co - registered optical images when used in conjunction with a 3d dbt system ( e . g ., ge healthcare , gen1 . 5 ). tobi can incorporate state - of - the - art high - speed optical instruments in a tomographic configuration . ( see e . g ., references 16 and 19 ). the source module in tobi can include both continuous - wave (“ cw ”) and radio - frequency (“ rf ”) modulated lasers at about 680 and about 830 nm , and can be capable of imaging tissue scattering in addition to total hemoglobin concentration (“[ hbt ]”) and tissue oxygenation (“ so 2 ”). a study using a combined x - ray / optical imaging system has been conducted . encouraging preliminary results have been obtained , demonstrating the diagnostic potential of using both x - ray based structural information and optically - derived functional information together in the breast cancer clinical patient management . using multi - wavelength rf and continuous wave (“ cw ”) measurements from tobi , and geometric priors from dbt images , researchers performed nonlinear bulk tissue property estimation , and image reconstruction , using a gauss - newton approach . the bulk optical properties of the breast tissues are similar to the results from the published literature . fig2 a and 2b show the exemplary reconstructed image slices for a breast , containing an invasive ductal carcinoma (“ idc ”) ( e . g ., in this case , a large portion of the tumor can be ductal carcinoma in situ (“ dcis ”)). fig2 c and 2d show a further exemplary breast containing an idc . the corresponding dbt image slice , the contours of the tumor ( e . g ., element 205 ) and the fibroglandular tissue ( e . g ., element 210 ) are also shown in fig2 b and 2d , respectively . the exemplary [ hbt ] image of the lesion - bearing breast in fig2 b presents a positive contrast ( e . g ., about 2 : 1 ) with margins well fitted within the contours of the lesion . the scattering coefficient image shows a similar pattern . the so 2 values inside the tumor region demonstrate a slightly lower value compared with the surrounding tissue . these exemplary findings are similar to published signatures of malignant lesions such as high vessel density and high metabolism . ( see e . g ., reference 17 ). while the exemplary tobi / dbt examination can be performed fairly quickly ( e . g ., data acquisition less than about 2 minutes ), the use of metal in the construction of the exemplary optical plates can benefit from separating the optical from the x - ray exam by manually removing the optical plates after the 45 second optical image . the patient can remain under compression during this time , leading to unneeded discomfort . a significant reduction in the procedure time and patient compression duration can be achieved by fabricating optical probes from an x - ray translucent material , facilitating true simultaneous dual - modality imaging . plates containing the optical fibers can be built from acrylic sheets or another suitable x - ray translucent material . these plates can be mated to the exemplary x - ray device breast compression plate and x - ray detector , respectively , using suitable means of retainment . the area to be covered by light , other energy emission or capture locations can be determined from histograms of compressed breast geometries from previous clinical measurements , breast morphometry studies , or any other suitable survey of breast dimensions . the exemplary optical probes can be based on maximum optical efficiency and minimized x - ray image disruption . table 1 below details exemplary measurements acquired of x - ray absorption properties of the different materials that can be used in probe fabrication , together with the properties of a typical mammography phantom ( e . g ., gammex 156 ) used for instrument quality control as a reference . the majority of these exemplary materials may only absorb a small fraction of x - ray photons compared to a typical breast . glass optical fiber bundles , often used for light capture for optical imaging , can have excessive x - ray absorption , highlighting the need to use a more x - ray translucent material , such as plastic optical fibers (“ pof ”) for the detectors . the recent development of perfluorinated materials for pofs has greatly improved optical transmission properties compared to the older pmma ( e . g ., acrylic ) pofs , with attenuation as low as 0 . 06 db / m throughout the nir range . minimizing the thickness of the probe components can be essential to reduce x - ray artifacts . an exemplary design can have optical fibers / bundles enter from the side , and can either be embedded in a plastic plate , or sandwiched between two plastic plates . glass or plastic fibers can be used for the sources , while large diameters plastic fibers can be a good choice for collecting light transmitted through the tissue . several exemplary designs with various tradeoffs between complexity and x - ray absorption can include the following : straight optical fibers can terminate in an about 10 - 70 degree side cut , for example an about 45 degree side cut . ( see e . g ., reference 19 ). both incoming and tissue transmitted light can undergo total internal reflection at the inclined fiber / air interface . therefore , no additional light reflecting components can be needed . this exemplary design can minimize probe thickness , but losses of approximately 20 % or more can be expected compared to front facing fibers . straight optical fibers can terminate at a glass , plastic or other radiation bending material microprism ( e . g ., matching source and detector waveguide size ) that can reflect and collect light into / out of the tissue . this exemplary design can offer provide superior light efficiency , but the prism material should be selected to minimize the impact on x - ray image reconstruction . tightly bent 5 - 400 μm optical fibers ( e . g ., source plate ) and 1 - 5 mm fiber bundles ( e . g ., detection side ) can be used . this can be a simple design , but can suffer from potential bending related light loss , and a substantial fiber material component along the x - ray axis . side fiber cut angle optimization can be performed using analytical or numerical modeling . for example , a 3d mesh generator ( e . g ., the iso2 mesh package ) was used to create 3d tetrahedral meshes to accurately model the geometry of a side - firing fiber . ( see fig3 ). the tetrahedral mesh model can contain both the core and cladding regions of a fiber , with an adjustable outer / inner radius and top - face tilting angle ( e . g ., α , relative to the axis of the fiber ). this exemplary mesh model can be used to accurately simulate light propagation from various optical fiber structures , including both step - indexed and graded index fibers . fig4 shows the front ( element 425 ) and side - firing ( element 405 ) output from an angle polished fiber 410 with a polish angle 415 with respect to the fiber direction . a maximum power in the side - firing area 430 can be beneficial , and the light emission distribution over multiple polish angles over a range of the polish angle 415 from about 10 to about 90 degrees is demonstrated . fig5 shows the front ( element 520 ) and side - firing ( element 515 ) output from an angle polished fiber 510 with a polish angle 505 with respect to the fiber direction . a maximum power in the side - firing area 525 and the light emission distribution over multiple polish angles over a range of the polish angle 505 between about 30 and about 44 degrees is demonstrated . fig6 shows a plot of the percentage of the total output energy emitted through the side - firing beam ( element 525 from fig5 ) as a function of the polish angle of the fiber ( element 505 from fig5 ). a substantially accurate photon transport simulation procedure was developed using an exemplary monte carlo procedure and a tetrahedral mesh . the exemplary procedure can be called a “ mesh - based monte carlo ”, or mmc . using this exemplary procedure , photons propagating inside a complex domain , such as the side cut fiber model shown in fig3 , can be simulated , and the light emission profile at the tip of the fiber can be calculated . using the parameters for one of the commercially available optical fibers , an exemplary 3d fiber model was created , a series of mmc simulations can be run , and the light transmission profiles for a range of tilting angle ( α ) of a side - firing fiber can be obtained . the light transmission profiles corresponding to α ranging from 10 degree to 90 degree are shown in table 1 below . from the light distributions on the top - and side - panels , the emergence and fading of a side beam can be evident , especially when 10 & lt ; α & lt ; 50 . a fine - grained set of simulations can be performed to find the optimal polish angle . specifically , the energy transmission ratios between the side - firing beam and the total incident energy can be calculated and the maximum can be sought . for this exemplary fiber configuration ( e . g ., core / cladding diameter , refractive indices ), an exemplary tilting angle can be about 37 degree . at this angle , about 88 % of the light energy can transmit through the side - firing beam . this exemplary simulation can be applied for any other fiber configurations to optimize the tilting angle for a side - firing optical fiber . even x - ray translucent materials can leave a certain amount of artifacts in the x - ray image , for example , the breast mammogram or breast 3d digital breast tomosynthesis volume . artifact removal can be accomplished at many levels , for example , by reference subtraction from the raw x - ray projections , by pattern recognition and removal , or by 3d reconstruction algorithms that can localize the artifacts substantially away from the breast tissue . using several exemplary test targets , probe artifacts can be removed from the x - ray images by first acquiring the probe x - ray shadow , and then aligning and subtracting it from the combined x - ray image . fig7 a - 7d illustrate exemplary images where a 5 cm thick slice of eggplant was placed on top of a prototype detector plate that included pmma fibers and prisms . the plate and the eggplant were sandwiched between the x - ray detector and the compression plate of the exemplary tomosynthesis machine . fig7 a shows the x - ray shadow of the prototype detector plate ( e . g ., contrast enhanced for visibility ), while fig7 b shows an x - ray of the eggplant slice . fig7 c shows the x - ray of the eggplant and plate combination , and fig7 d shows the results of aligning and subtracting the probe shadow in fig7 a from the x - ray image in fig7 c . the artifact removal appears is beneficial . in an exemplary embodiment according to the present disclosure , the source laser diodes can be coupled to a standard approximately 500 micron glass fiber , which can then be coupled into an approximately 500 micron pmma fiber that can enter the source plate . the fiber can terminate at about a 36 degree angle cut , which can be optimized for side firing , and the tip can be embedded in about a 4 mm black plastic button that can absorb stray light . a total of about 120 fibers can be built into a polycarbonate plate about ⅛ ″ thick , which can be attached under the mammography machine compression paddle . both glass and plastic fiber diameters can vary as needed ( e . g ., can be as small as 50 microns , and as large as 1 - 2 mm if routing can be achieved ). the angle cut can be optimized numerically for each fiber type . the stray light blocking termination can take any shape that can enclose the fiber tip . in another exemplary embodiment , after passing through the breast , the light or other electro - magnetic radiation can be collected by a plastic prism that can send it into about a 2 mm solid pmma fiber . finally , after the pmma fiber exits the plate , the light or other electro - magnetic radiation can be coupled to about a 2 . 5 mm glass fiber bundle that can carry it to the photodetectors . by using the side firing angle polish and the collection prisms , the entire fiber assembly can be flat , and can be embedded in about a ¼ ″ thick polycarbonate plate , the same material used for the x - ray compression paddles . a total of about 54 detector fibers can be built into the plate , meant to be attached above the x - ray machine detector cover . using several exemplary devices with increasing numbers of embedded optical components , cad drawing for each element , as well as the cnc machining parameters can be optimized . exemplary patterns can be used to place the about 120 source and about 54 detection channels , and the exemplary plastic probe plates can be fabricated that can hold the exemplary optical components described above . fig8 shows exemplary photographs of the exemplary plates ready for final assembly . fig9 illustrates a schematic description of the exemplary light transmission characteristics according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure . the exemplary embodiment can include a unit source power ( e . g ., a laser diode ), which can modulated with a square wave ( 905 ). the modulated light from the light source can then be coupled using a laser to fiber coupler 910 into a glass optical fiber 915 ( e . g ., an approximately 500 micron core optical fiber ). the light output from 915 can be further coupled using a fiber to fiber coupler 920 to a pmma plastic fiber 925 , which can be terminated with about a 37 degree angle polish 930 for side firing into the sample ( e . g ., breast tissue 935 ). light re - emitted from the tissue 935 can be captured by plastic prisms 940 that can couple the light to an about 2 . 0 mm pmma fiber ( s ) 945 . the output of the pmma fiber ( s ) 945 can be coupled to glass fiber bundles 955 using a fiber to fiber coupler 950 . the total light transmission 960 can be estimated for light of about 690 nm and about 830 nm assuming about 5 meter long glass fiber elements 915 and 955 , and about 0 . 35 meter long plastic fiber elements 925 and 955 , and employing previously determined transmission and coupling efficiencies for each wavelength at each step of the transmission path . fig1 a and 10b show two exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure with light guiding elements and stiffening and protection features . fig1 a shows an exemplary light collection probe with plastic prisms that can redirect light from the sample into thick plastic optical fibers that follow a curvilinear path to a coupling zone near the edge of the holder . where the light is transitioned to glass fiber bundles , the transition area is protected with a rigid enclosure that can also serve as flush mounting means to a hologic selenia dbt x - ray detector cover . fig1 b shows an exemplary light emission probe design where glass fibers come in from the instrumentation , mate with plastic fibers at the edge in protected channels , and the light is delivered at the inner end of the plastic fibers through internal reflection due to the angle polish . the plastic light delivery fibers can be terminated in black plastic holders to avoid stray light emission ( e . g ., from a front firing light ). a metal plate can shield the fiber coupling region , and the entire plate can be rigidly mated to a standard commercial breast compression plate using a shaped plastic mounting system with screw attachments . fig1 a - 11c are exemplary images of breast tomosynthesis slices from an actual patients showing the x - ray shadow pattern at the detector plate ( fig1 a ), at the source plate ( fig1 c ) and the nearly complete removal of artifacts achieved by the commercial dbt image reconstruction software mid - way within the breast ( fig1 b ). fig1 a illustrates a system diagram for an exemplary diffuse optical tomography system . a computer ( e . g ., laptop 205 ) can control one or more rf light source channels 1210 , which can include 24 sources and 2 wavelengths . laptop 205 can also control fdm cw light source channels , which can include 96 sources in 3 blanks , and 2 wavelengths . the output of the rf light source channels and the fdm cw light source channels can be input into a source plate 1225 , which can also include x - rays from x - ray source 1220 . the light radiation and the x - ray radiation can be provided to tissue ( e . g ., breast 1225 ), in conjunction with an x - ray detector 1250 and rf light detector channels 1245 and cw light detector channels 1240 , and the source plate and detector plate in this diagram ) fig1 b shows a photograph of the source ( e . g ., light emission ) plate mounted on a standard size hologic breast compression paddle compatible with a hologic selenia dimensions mammography / tomosynthesis system . fig1 c shows a photograph of the detector ( e . g ., light collection ) plate mounted on the x - ray detector cover hologic selenia dimensions mammography / tomosynthesis system . fig1 d shows an exemplary assignment of light emission locations to the signal source components of the exemplary dot system / apparatus system having a continuous wave light at 690 nm ( e . g ., element 1255 ) and at 830 nm ( e . g ., element 1260 ), and radio frequency modulated light ( e . g ., element 1265 ) of mixed 690 and 830 wavelengths . fig1 e shows an exemplary assignment of light collection locations to the exemplary photodetection components of the exemplary dot system / apparatus with cw photodetectors 1270 , rf photodetectors 1280 , not assigned spaces 1275 ). fig1 f shows an exemplary source and detector plate mounted on a hologic selenia dimensions x - ray mammography / tomosynthesis system . fig1 g shows an exemplary reconstruction of total hemoglobin concentration in units of micromoles per liter in an adult human volunteer imaged with the exemplary system / apparatus shown in fig1 a . fig1 h shows an exemplary reconstruction of compression induced changes in total hemoglobin concentration in units of micromoles per liter in an adult human volunteer imaged with the exemplary system / apparatus of fig1 a at 30 seconds after the breast compression is complete . fig1 i shows a mid - height slice of the exemplary x - ray digital breast tomosynthesis reconstruction of the subject &# 39 ; s breast ( corresponding to the images in fig1 g and 12h ). using several test targets , probe artifacts from the x - ray images can be removed by acquiring the probe x - ray shadow , and then aligning and subtracting it from the combined x - ray image . fig7 a - 7d shows an example where a 5 cm thick slice of eggplant was placed on top of a prototype detector plate that included pmma fibers and prisms . the plate and the eggplant were sandwiched between the x - ray detector and the compression plate of the exemplary tomosynthesis machine . fig7 a shows the x - ray shadow of the exemplary detector plate ( e . g ., contrast enhanced for visibility ), while fig7 b shows an x - ray of the eggplant slice . fig7 c shows the x - ray of the eggplant and plate combination while fig7 d shows the results of aligning and subtracting the probe shadow in fig7 a from the x - ray image in fig7 c . the artifact removal appears to be excellent . the foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure . various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein . it will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems , arrangements , and procedures which , although not explicitly shown or described herein , embody the principles of the disclosure and can be thus within the spirit and scope of the disclosure . various different exemplary embodiments can be used together with one another , as well as interchangeably therewith , as should be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art . in addition , certain terms used in the present disclosure , including the specification , drawings and claims thereof , can be used synonymously in certain instances , including , but not limited to , for example , data and information . it should be understood that , while these words , and / or other words that can be synonymous to one another , can be used synonymously herein , that there can be instances when such words can be intended to not be used synonymously . further , to the extent that the prior art knowledge has not been explicitly incorporated by reference herein above , it is explicitly incorporated herein in its entirety . all publications referenced are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . the following references are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety . globocan2008 . “ estimated cancer incidence , mortality , prevalence and disability - 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