Terahertz Reflection Imaging of Paraffin-embedded Human Breast Cancer Samples: Some First Results

Abstract

Several studies have shown that terahertz (THz) pulsed imaging has the potential of identifying the margins of human breast cancer in paraffin-embedded tissue samples. Before using this technique for the assessment of cancer margins during breast-conserving surgery, it is important to study the validity and reproducibility of previously published results. In the present paper, we describe some first results in the characterization of paraffin-embedded human breast cancer tissue through THz reflection imaging based on measurements provided by a newly acquired THz time-domain spectrometer. First, we measured the THz reflection impulse response of these samples using this spectrometer. Second, we processed, for one selected breast cancer tissue sample, the recorded data to generate preliminary images of (1) several maps of parameters extracted in the timeand frequency-domains, and (2) a map of the absorbance.