Imaging of breast cancer with mid- and long-wave infrared camera

Abstract

In this novel study the breasts of 15 women with palpable breast cancer were preoperatively imaged with three technically different infrared (IR) cameras—micro bolometer (MB), quantum well (QWIP) and photo voltaic (PV)—to compare their ability to differentiate breast cancer from normal tissue. The IR images were processed, the data for frequency analysis were collected from dynamic IR images by pixel-based analysis and from each image selectively windowed regional analysis was carried out, based on angiogenesis and nitric oxide production of cancer tissue causing vasomotor and cardiogenic frequency differences compared to normal tissue. Our results show that the GaAs QWIP camera and the InSb PV camera demonstrate the frequency difference between normal and cancerous breast tissue; the PV camera more clearly. With selected image processing operations more detailed frequency analyses could be applied to the suspicious area. The MB camera was not suitable for tissue differentiation, as the difference between noise and effective signal was unsatisfactory.

Keywords:

• Dynamic infrared imaging
• Noise-equivalent temperature difference (NETD)
• Quantum efficacy (QE)
• Breast cancer