Measurement of optical transport properties of normal and malignant human breast tissue

Abstract

We report measurement of optical transport parameters of normal and malignant (ductal carcinoma) human breast tissue. A spatially resolved steady-state diffuse reflectance technique was used for measurement of the reduced scattering coefficient (μ_s') and the absorption coefficient (μ_a) of the tissue. The anisotropy parameter of scattering (g) was estimated by goniophotometric measurements of the scattering phase function. The values of μ_s' and μ_a for malignant breast tissue were observed to be larger than those for normal breast tissue over the wavelength region investigated (450-650 nm). Further, by using both the diffuse reflectance and the goniophotometric measurements, we estimated the Mie equivalent average radius of tissue scatterers to be larger in malignant tissue than in normal tissue.