Study: Quick, pain-free breast imaging system shows promise in early clinical tests

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A breast scan for detecting cancer takes less than a minute using an experimental system that combines photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging, according to a study in IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

The system does not require painful compression like mammography. Instead, patients stand and gently press their breast against an imaging window.

In tests involving four healthy individuals and 61 breast cancer patients, it produced clear, artificial intelligence-powered 3D images of common breast cancer subtypes such as Luminal A, Luminal B and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

“Our system, which is called OneTouch-PAT, combines advanced imaging, automation and artificial intelligence –all while enhancing patient comfort,” says the study’s corresponding author Jun Xia, PhD, professor in the University at Buffalo’s Department of Biomedical Engineering.

He stresses that “more work is needed before it can be used in clinical settings, but we’re excited about OneTouch-PAT’s potential to augment current imaging methods and help fight this terrible disease.”

Additional authors include researchers in the UB Department of Biostatistics; the UB Department of Computer Science and Engineering; the Department of Breast Imaging and the Department of Surgery, both at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Windsong Radiology.

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Breast cancer is among the leading causes of death for women worldwide. Early detection – most commonly through mammograms and ultrasound – has helped save countless lives.

But each technique has limitations. Mammography is widely available and relatively inexpensive, but it’s less accurate among women with dense breast tissue, involves radiation and is painful. Ultrasound, which is often used in conjunction with mammography, is better with dense breast tissue, but it can produce false positives and its quality is reliant upon the skill of the sonographer.

Other tools such as MRI are effective but expensive, time-consuming and not widely available.

Xia and colleagues have been studying photoacoustic imaging, which works by emitting laser pulses that cause light-absorbing molecules to heat up and expand. This in turn creates ultrasound waves that allow medical professionals to detect blood vessels that often grow more in cancerous tissues.

Typically, these systems require a sonographer to manually scan the breast, or they rely on separate devices for photoacoustic imaging and ultrasound imaging.

OneTouch-PAT combines both scans automatically – in other words, there is no potential for operator error – with the patient in the same standing position. The device performs a photoacoustic scan first, followed by an ultrasound scan, then repeats this pattern in an interleaved way until the entire breast is covered.

The system then processes the data using a deep learning network to improve image clarity. Depending on the computing power in this step, this may take only a few minutes. Ultimately, the research team found that OneTouch-PAT provides a more in-depth and clearer view of breast tumors compared to photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging systems that are operator-dependent.

For example, its 3D images showed unique vascular patterns by cancer subtype. That includes richer and more prominent tumor-associated blood vessels in Luminal A and Luminal B cancers, and high-intensity spots that correspond to the chaotic and abnormal blood supply often seen in Triple-Negative Breast Cancers.

OneTouch-PAT could be especially helpful for women with dense breast tissue, who are often more difficult to diagnose and at higher risk. This is because the system’s ultrasound component excels at detecting suspicious lesions and the photoacoustic imaging captures blood vessel growth around those lesions to provide additional information about potential malignancy and tumor type. Both techniques are less affected by tissue density.

While the results are promising, Xia says, more studies are needed across a broader population to continue to validate OneTouch-PAT. The team is planning additional studies to include benign lesions and improve data extraction methods. The researchers also aim to add more sensors and more robust imaging tools for improved accuracy and speed.