Breast Cancer Detection by Determination of Optical Properties of Non-Malignant and Malignant Breast Tissues

Abstract

Breast cancer being one of the most frequent form of cancer, is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Early detection can greatly improve a woman`s chances for survival. In this paper we introduce an economic and accurate optical system for breast cancer detection. We have investigated the optical properties of human breast tissues using the He:Ne laser and optical spectroscopy. The materials investigated included non-malignant and malignant breast tissue, which almost have similar grain sizes and thicknesses. The informative features of calculated optical properties of breast tissue at 633 nm allow one to discriminate between normal and malignant sample also Monte Carlo simulation are used to describe the propagation of light . An experimental scheme is applied for detection and imaging the reflected light from the sample to extract information of infected tissue. Calculations of the results demonstrate that the absorption coefficient for cancerous tissue is 10.07 cm-1 relative to 33.66 cm-1 for non-malignant (normal) breast tissue and the laser reflectance is 770.5 cm-1 for cancerous tissue relative to 261.43 cm-1 for normal tissue, which can be used for diagnostic purposes.