Multispectral Imaging of Intrinsic Metabolic Fluorophores: Detection of Human Breast Cancer in Fresh Ex-vivo Specimens

A growing number of women develop breast cancer and require surgery. Many lumpectomies lead to follow-up procedures after the initial surgery. Advanced scanning technologies have reduced the number of second and third surgeries - but only by about 50%. This paper assesses the potential of using multispectral images of intrinsic fluorescence to detect breast cancer. Images and spectra of intrinsic fluorescence from fresh ex-vivo human specimens are related to pathological analysis, and predict high sensitivity and specificity. A design for a hand-held surgical scanning tool is presented.