NIR uses infrared light that is sensitive to blood, and by sending infrared light through breast tissue with a fiber optic array, researchers are able to find and quantify regions of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin. This could help in the detection of early tumor growth and characterize the stage of a tumor by learning about its vascular makeup.
The research team hails from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering and Dartmouth Medical School working with experts at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center and the Department of Radiology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC).
Keith D. Paulsen, professor of engineering and a co-author of the study, is the principal investigator of this research program, funded by the National Cancer Institute. Other authors on the paper are Tor D. Tosteson ScD, Wendy A. Wells MD, Brian W. Pogue PhD, Paul M. Meaney PhD, Alexander Hartov PhD, Christine A. Kogel BSN, Sandra K. Soho MS, and Jennifer J. Gibson MS, all associated with Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering or Dartmouth Medical School.
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