SBIR Phase I:Innovative Breast Cancer Detection Algorithm Using Infrared Images

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve monitoring and prevention of breast cancer with mammograms. Over 48 million screenings are performed each year in the US, and up to 10% women are recalled for further evaluation. Dense tissue found in 40% of women masks tumors in mammograms. Ultrasound is used as a complementary technique but it detects both malignant and non-malignant tumors and an additional biopsy is needed to detect cancer. Over 90% of the recalled women do not have cancer, resulting in added cost and unnecessary anxiety among healthy women. On the other hand, limiting the recalls to under 10% causes some cancers to be missed. This project advances a new infrared imaging (IR) technology unaffected by breast density. It is sensitive to only cancerous tumors because it uses their higher metabolic signature, and it can provide accurate estimates of the tumor size and location within the breast. The proposed IR imaging technology will reduce the overall healthcare cost and improve clinical outcomes.The proposed IR technology will provide an effective adjunct to mammography and it will identify cancerous tumors in dense breast tissue as well. It uses contactless IR imaging and the spatial and thermal data obtained from multi-view IR images of individual breasts. The IR images are obtained in prone position to avoid gravitational distortions and provide clear optical access over the entire breast, including the region of inframammary folds. The heat transfer from the tumor to the breast’s surface is analyzed and modeled as a straightforward physical system. The temperature profile on the breast surface is iteratively compared with the IR images until a match is obtained indicating whether a cancerous tumor is present. The analysis predicts the malignant tumor size and its location is clearly displayed to a radiologist. The approach is patient-specific. The overall breast cancer detection rate is expected to improve, while reducing the recall rates and unneeded biopsies in healthy women.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.