近红外影像诊断的物理基础和乳腺癌的早期诊断

The physical principles of near infrared breast diaphanography and early diagnosis of breast cancer

乳腺癌的早期诊断是提高妇女生活品质、降低死亡率的重要环节.作为乳腺癌主流诊断技术的钼靶软X射线诊断(mammography)对人体具有射线损伤,而近红外影像诊断(CDI)是无损伤、可反复检查的新诊断技术,但假阳性率偏高,目前受到医学界的质疑.文章从影像诊断的物理基础入手,讨论了癌症病变组织的生长、转移和血管分布异常对于近红外光透过率的影响,分析了CDI的优缺点,并从理论上得出了该技术满足影像诊断三要素的结论.文章作者还评述了市场竞争因素对于这一技术发展的影响,最后简单提及物理学在与生命科学交叉领域的研究课题和发展机会.

The early-screening and diagnosis of breast cancer is very important for improving the life quality of women as well decreasing the death rate. As a main diagnostic technique, mammography might cause radiation damage to the human body. Near infrared （NIR） computer diaphanography imaging diagnosis （CDI） is a new technique for breast cancer diagnosis which can be performed multiple times with no harm. However, its high incidence of false positivity has raised doubts and questions. We introduce the physical principles of CDI, and discuss the mechanism of how a malignant growth surrounds itself with a dense network of tiny blood-filled capillaries to feed oxygen and nutrients to active tumors, thus forming unique NIR transmittance markers that reveal the presence of cancer. The advantages and difficulties of CDI are evaluated, with the conclusion that CDI satisfies all the ＂three-conditions＂ of imaging diagnosis. The influence of competition with mammography in the development of CDI is reviewed. The opportunities of physics interacting with the life sciences are outlined.