SBIR-STTR Award

Experimental work done to date indicates that Opto-Acoustic Tomography will provide breast images with greater contrast and sensitivity to cancer than the currently preferred methods. In a Laser Optoacoustic Imaging System (LOIS) short near-infrared laser pulses are absorbed preferentially in tumors to generate pressure profiles resembling distribution of absorbed optical energy in the breast. Variation of the laser wavelength permits targeting either blood-rich malignant carcinoma or fibrous-tissue-rich fibroadenoma. Therefore, pressure waves emanating from tumors deliver information to the breast surface not only about the location and dimensions of tumors, but also diagnostic information. At the breast surface signals are detected by wide-band, piezoelectric transducers and analyzed to generate an image. Extensive laboratory research has proven the practicality and significant advantages of LOIS. LOIS is suitable for examination of all breasts independently on skin color, age and radiological density. The goal of the work proposed is to develop a commercial prototype instrument. The work during the Phase I project will focus on the general design, design of system components and fabrication of an advanced opto-acoustic array detector. Fabricated system components will be employed in the clinical research system at UTMB and tested with five breast cancer patients. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The proposed work will ultimately lead to a commercial device that will be useful as a primary tool in screening for breast cancer and as a secondary imaging tool for reduction of the large number of false positives generated by other screening procedures, such as X-ray mammography. The estimated cost per examination will be comparable to that for an ultrasonic image. The device will be suitable for guiding needle biopsies of suspicious lesions and new thermal therapeutic methods (such as focused ultrasound or laser, fiber-optic ablation) for eradication of those lesions. A potential for eventual application of the equipment in various diagnostic, monitoring and therapeutic procedures will guide further design considerations.

Experimental work done to date indicates that Optoacoustic Tomography will provide breast images with greater contrast and sensitivity to cancer than the currently preferred methods. In a Laser Optoacoustic Imaging System (LOIS), short, near-infrared laser pulses are preferentially absorbed by breast tumors. As a result, pressure waves are generated at the absorption sites. These propagate to the surface where they can be detected with ultra-wideband ultrasonic transducers. Computer processing of the detected signals results in an image in which contrast is largely determined by the tissue blood content. Cancerous tumors are blood rich because they develop a dense network of leaky blood vessels through the process of angiogenesis. The contrast in an optoacoustic image is significantly higher than that in images acquired with x-rays or ultrasound. Imaging with 2 different laser wavelengths can provide diagnostic information. Images taken with a wavelength of 1064 nm are particularly sensitive to the distribution of oxygenated blood. Images taken with a wavelength of 760 nm are more sensitive to the distribution of deoxygenated blood. Combining and/or comparing the two types of images yields a means for differentiation between cancerous and non-cancerous lesion. LOIS is suitable for examination of the breasts of all women, regardless of their age or skin color. The overall goal of this project is to develop a commercial prototype optoacoustic imager. The work of the Lasersonix team during Phase II will focus on incorporation of the components developed in Phase I into a complete 2D imaging system called LOIS-2D. LOIS-2D will be tested with 24 patients with suspicious breast lesions to verify the proper performance of the equipment and to perform initial tests of its diagnostic capability in collaboration with UTMB. The commercial prototype of a 3D optoacoustic imager, LOIS-3D, will be designed, developed, and fabricated. Specifically, a three-dimensional transducer array will be produced. The electronics and software will be modified to handle an increased number of detectors. The number of electronic channels that can be processed in parallel will be increased to 128. Image reconstruction will be performed in hardware. 3D images will be reconstructed in close to real time through a computer fusion of 20 images produced in real time.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomedical equipment development, breast neoplasm /cancer diagnosis, imaging /visualization /scanning, optics, three dimensional imaging /topography, tomography computer program /software, diagnosis design /evaluation, image processing, infrared radiation, laser, optical coherence tomography, time resolved data, ultrasonography bioimaging /biomedical imaging, clinical research, human subject