Apparatus for optical breast imaging

Abstract

A breast imager generates an image of a breast and determines if a suspicious growth is present in the breast. The optical breast imager includes a 'breast box' in which a patient's breast may be enclosed, a transmitter/detector device, and a data acquisition system. The 'breast box' includes four optical arrays. The 'breast box' defines an adjustable volume which may accommodate different sized breasts. The arrays may be used to send optical energy into the 'breast box' or to receive optical energy which has been transmitted into the 'breast box'. The transmitter/detector device has four optical arrays corresponding to 'breast box' imaging arrays. The transmitter/detector device may also have one or more optical energy transmitters and optical energy detectors. The transmitter (or transmitters) may transmit optical energy into a location on a transmitter/detector array. The optical energy is sent into the 'breast box' via the corresponding 'breast box' imaging array. Energy which passes through and/or is scattered by the tissue strikes the surface the 'breast box' imaging arrays and is sent to the transmitter/detector device arrays, where the energy may be detected by an optical detector. The operation of the transmitters and detectors may be synchronized so that optical energy may be transmitted from a known location at a known time and the locations from which that transmitted energy is subsequently detected may be determined. The detected energy data is sent to the data acquisition system for processing.