'Optical biopsy' for breast cancer tested

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher is testing the accuracy of using an "optical biopsy" to determine breast cancer.

Huabei Jiang, a biomedical engineer at the University of Florida in Gainesville, has been working 10 years to develop phase-contrast diffuse optical tomography that can determine whether breast growths are cancerous without needles or surgery.

Jiang's newest apparatus is undergoing tests at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. It uses non-harmful laser light and computer algorithms to create an image of the breast's interior that shows signs of cancer -- such as high density of blood vessels -- not visible in standard X-ray mammograms.

In addition, fiber optic lights span 10 wavelengths -- colors -- that change in predictable ways when they strike certain compounds, such as oxygenated hemoglobin, water or lipids. Also, index refraction or phase contrast provide information on cellular size and density -- factors that play into determination of cancer in laboratory biopsies.

"At this stage, it is just too early for optical tomography to be a screening tool," Jiang said in a statement. "But you can pretty much say that it is highly likely it can become a diagnostic tool, an adjunct to X-ray mammography."