Optical imaging of tumor vascularity associated with proliferation and glucose metabolism in early breast cancer: clinical application of total hemoglobin measurements in the breast

Abstract

Background: Near-infrared optical imaging targeting the intrinsic contrast of tissue hemoglobin has emerged as a promising approach for visualization of vascularity in cancer research. We evaluated the usefulness of diffuse optical spectroscopy using time-resolved spectroscopic (TRS) measurements for functional imaging of primary breast cancer. Methods: Fifty-five consecutive TNM stageI/II patients with histologically proven invasive ductal carcinoma and operable breast tumors (<5 cm) who underwent TRS measurements were enrolled. Thirty (54.5%) patients underwent 18 F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography with measurement of maximum tumor uptake. TRS was used to obtain oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin, and total hemoglobin (tHb) levels from the lesions, surrounding normal tissue, and contralateral normal tissue. Lesions with tHb levels 20% higher than those present in normal tissue were defined as "hotspots," while others were considered "uniform." The findings in either tumor type were compared with clinicopathological factors.

Near-Infrared Diffuse Optical Imaging for Early Prediction of Breast Cancer Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: A Comparative Study Using 18F-FDG PET/CT

“…We recently established a time-resolved (TR)-diffuse optical spectroscopic imaging (DOSI) system (TRS20; Hamamatsu Inc.) for breast measurement and reported that elevation of the total hemoglobin (tHb) concentration in lesions compared with that of the background normal tissue reflects hypervascularity of the lesion (5). We hypothesized that changes in lesional tHb concentrations would indicate the degree of tumor angiogenesis during treatment, thereby predicting the therapeutic response.…”

Comparison of Lipid and Water Contents by Time-domain Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy and Dual-energy Computed Tomography in Breast Cancer Patients

“…Several reports have compared DOS-measured physiological parameters between normal and tumor breast tissue [4,27,[39][40][41]. In tumor tissue, tHb and water are higher than those in normal tissue, while lipid is lower.…”

“…Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), in the range of 650-1000 nm, is widely used to noninvasively measure the concentration of light absorbing substances such as hemoglobin, water, and lipids in living tissues. In breast cancer studies, NIRS has been used to monitor tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), as hemoglobin, water, and lipid proportions reflect microvasculature, cellular metabolism, angiogenesis, edema, hypoxia, and necrosis [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. These parameters are significantly altered in tumor growth and regression.…”

A Comparison of Near-Infrared Diffuse Optical Imaging and 18F-FDG PET/CT for the Early Prediction of Breast Cancer Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

“…The technology of time-resolved spectroscopic analysis with a time-correlated single-photon counting does provide one of the largest dynamic ranges possible for absorption and scattering distribution in tissue. Yet the source and detector separation determines the tissue depth of accurate assessment of the tumor optical property, and in this case tissue depth was 3 cm (8). Although this subsurface scanning system successfully assessed the tumor response to NAC, the measurement volume is clearly dominated by immediately subsurface tissues (depth, ;1.5 cm), and so the accuracy of the assessment is highly dependent on the depth and the size of the tumor.…”