Dye-enhanced multispectral transillumination for breast cancer detection: feasibility measurements

Near-IR transillumination for breast cancer detection is limited by poor discrimination among different breast conditions; including the presence of cancerous, benign, and fibrous tissues. Perhaps due to enhanced vascularity, there is evidence that a contrast agent, indocyanine green (ICG), accumulates at the site of malignant tumors. The 805 nm absorption edge of the compound suggests that multispectral transillumination, coupled with special-purpose data fusion processing, could enhance the discrimination of tumors. In this paper we report on the transillumination of in-vitro tissue samples in which minute (<10 /spl mu/gm) quantities of ICG have been injected. Discrimination and deblurring algorithms fusing multispectral images in the range 750-1000 nm are applied to enhance detectability of the ICG in tissue.