Developing ultrasound optical tomography for deep tissue imaging of the breast

Ultrasound Optical Tomography (UOT) combines the high-resolution imaging capability of ultrasound with measurements of light absorption and scattering properties of human tissue. This non-invasive technique could distinguish between cancerous and non-cancerous lesions inside the breast tissue, follow tumor shrinkage during pre-operative treatment, or provide information on blood oxygenation levels. Recent measurements of phantoms mimicking the optical properties of breast tissue with various lesions indicated that the technique can probe 50 mm deep through the tissue. This work concentrates on developing the UOT setup in transmission mode and discusses its advantages, limitations, and possible improvements.