Spectroscopic diffuse optical tomography for the quantitative assessment of hemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation in breast tissue.

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic diffuse tomography has been used to map the hemoglobin concentration and the hemoglobin oxygen saturation quantitatively in tissuelike phantoms and to determine average values in vivo. A series of phantom calibrations were performed to achieve quantitatively accurate images of the absorption and the reduced scattering coefficients at multiple optical wavelengths. A least-squares fit was applied to absorption-coefficient images at multiple NIR wavelengths to obtain hemoglobin images of the concentration and the hemoglobin oxygen saturation. Objects of varying hemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation within highly scattering media were localized and imaged to within 15% of their actual values. The average hemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation of breast tissue was measured in vivo for two women volunteers. The potential application for the diagnosis of breast tumors is discussed.