Concurrent MRI and diffuse optical tomography of breast after indocyanine green enhancement

We present quantitative optical images of human breast in vivo. The images were obtained by using near-infrared diffuse optical tomography (DOT) after the administration of indocyanine green (ICG) for contrast enhancement. The optical examination was performed concurrently with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam on patients scheduled for excisional biopsy or surgery so that accurate image coregistration and histopathological information of the suspicious lesions was available. The ICG-enhanced optical images coregistered accurately with Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance images validating the ability of DOT to image breast tissue. In contrast to simple transillumination, we found that DOT provides for localization and quantification of exogenous tissue chromophore concentrations. Additionally our use of ICG, an albumin bound absorbing dye in plasma, demonstrates the potential to differentiate disease based on the quantified enhancement of suspicious lesions.

本研究提供了人体乳腺的在体定量光学图像。该系列图像通过近红外漫射光学层析成像（near-infrared diffuse optical tomography, DOT）采集，成像前通过注射吲哚菁绿（indocyanine green, ICG）实现对比增强。本次光学检测与拟接受切除活检或手术的患者的磁共振成像（magnetic resonance imaging, MRI）检查同步开展，因此可获取可疑病灶的精确图像配准结果与组织病理学信息。与钆增强磁共振图像精准配准的ICG增强光学图像验证了DOT对乳腺组织的成像能力。相较于简单透照法，本研究发现DOT可实现外源性组织生色团浓度的定位与定量分析。此外，本研究使用的ICG是一种血浆白蛋白结合型吸收染料，其可通过对可疑病灶的定量增强效果，展现出区分病变类型的应用潜力。