We performed in vivo THz transmission imaging study on a subcutaneous xenograft mouse model for early human breast cancer detection. With a THz-fiber-scanning transmission imaging system, we continuously monitored the growth of human breast cancer in mice. Our in vivo study not only indicates that THz transmission imaging can distinguish cancer from the surrounding fatty tissue, but also with a high sensitivity. Our in vivo study on the subcutaneous xenograft mouse model will encourage broad and further investigations for future early cancer screening by using THz imaging system.

© 2011 OSA

1. A. Jemal, R. Siegel, J. Xu, and E. Ward, “Cancer statistics, 2010,” CA Cancer J. Clin.60(5), 277–300 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
2. S. A. Feig and R. E. Hendrick, “Radiation risk from screening mammography of women aged 40-49 years,” J. Natl. Cancer Inst. Monogr.22(22), 119–124 (1997). [PubMed]
3. N. T. Brewer, T. Salz, and S. E. Lillie, “Systematic review: the long-term effects of false-positive mammograms,” Ann. Intern. Med.146(7), 502–510 (2007). [PubMed]
4. T. T. Alagaratnam and J. Wong, “Limitations of mammography in Chinese females,” Clin. Radiol.36(2), 175–177 (1985). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
5. R. Weissleder and M. J. Pittet, “Imaging in the era of molecular oncology,” Nature452(7187), 580–589 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
6. I. Duling and D. Zimdars, “Terahertz imaging revealing hidden defects,” Nat. Photonics3(11), 630–632 (2009). [CrossRef]
7. E. Pickwell-MacPherson, “Terahertz pulsed imaging in vivo,” Proc. SPIE7897, 78970C, 78970C-6 (2011). [CrossRef]
8. Y. Sun, M. Y. Sy, Y.-X. J. Wang, A. T. Ahuja, Y.-T. Zhang, and E. Pickwell-Macpherson, “A promising diagnostic method: Terahertz pulsed imaging and spectroscopy,” World J. Radiol.3(3), 55–65 (2011). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
9. P. Tewari, Z. D. Taylor, D. Bennett, R. S. Singh, M. O. Culjat, C. P. Kealey, J. P. Hubschman, S. White, A. Cochran, E. R. Brown, and W. S. Grundfest, “Terahertz imaging of biological tissues,” Stud. Health Technol. Inform.163, 653–657 (2011). [PubMed]
10. D. B. Bennett, Z. D. Taylor, P. Tewari, R. S. Singh, M. O. Culjat, W. S. Grundfest, D. J. Sassoon, R. D. Johnson, J.-P. Hubschman, and E. R. Brown, “Terahertz sensing in corneal tissues,” J. Biomed. Opt.16(5), 057003 (2011). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
11. A. J. Fitzgerald, B. E. Cole, and P. F. Taday, “Nondestructive analysis of tablet coating thicknesses using terahertz pulsed imaging,” J. Pharm. Sci.94(1), 177–183 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
12. K.-H. Ng, “Non-ionizing radiations: sources, biological effects, emissions and exposures,” in Proceedings of the International Conference on Non-Ionizing Radiation at UNITEN (ICNIR2003) Electromagnetic Fields and Our Health (Selangor, Malaysia, 2003), pp. 1–16.
13. P. C. Ashworth, E. Pickwell-MacPherson, S. E. Pinder, E. Provenzano, A. D. Purushotham, M. Pepper, and V. P. Wallace, “Terahertz spectroscopy of breast tumors,” in Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Infrared and Millimeter Waves and Terahertz Electronics (Cardiff, UK, 2007), pp. 603–605.
14. P. C. Ashworth, E. Pickwell-MacPherson, E. Provenzano, S. E. Pinder, A. D. Purushotham, M. Pepper, and V. P. Wallace, “Terahertz pulsed spectroscopy of freshly excised human breast cancer,” Opt. Express17(15), 12444–12454 (2009), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm? URI=oe-17-15-12444 . [PubMed]
15. A. J. Fitzgerald, V. P. Wallace, M. Jimenez-Linan, L. Bobrow, R. J. Pye, A. D. Purushotham, and D. D. Arnone, “Terahertz pulsed imaging of human breast tumors,” Radiology239(2), 533–540 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
16. C.-M. Chiu, H.-W. Chen, Y.-R. Huang, Y.-J. Hwang, W.-J. Lee, H. Y. Huang, and C. K. Sun, “All-terahertz fiber-scanning near-field microscopy,” Opt. Lett.34(7), 1084–1086 (2009), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ol/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-34-7-1084 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
17. J.-Y. Lu, C.-M. Chiu, C.-C. Kuo, C.-H. Lai, H.-C. Chang, Y.-J. Hwang, C.-L. Pan, and C.-K. Sun, “Terahertz scanning imaging with a subwavelength plastic fiber,” Appl. Phys. Lett.92(8), 084102 (2008). [CrossRef]
18. E. Vandeweyer and D. Hertens, “Quantification of glands and fat in breast tissue: an experimental determination,” Ann. Anat.184(2), 181–184 (2002). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
19. D. T. Ramsay, J. C. Kent, R. A. Hartmann, and P. E. Hartmann, “Anatomy of the lactating human breast redefined with ultrasound imaging,” J. Anat.206(6), 525–534 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
20. Y. Ullmann, O. Shoshani, A. Fodor, Y. Ramon, N. Carmi, L. Eldor, and A. Gilhar, “Searching for the favorable donor site for fat injection: in vivo study using the nude mice model,” Dermatol. Surg.31(10), 1304–1307 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
21. J. Sandby-Møller, T. Poulsen, and H. C. Wulf, “Epidermal thickness at different body sites: relationship to age, gender, pigmentation, blood content, skin type and smoking habits,” Acta Derm. Venereol.83(6), 410–413 (2003). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
22. M. Egawa, T. Hirao, and M. Takahashi, “In vivo estimation of stratum corneum thickness from water concentration profiles obtained with Raman spectroscopy,” Acta Derm. Venereol.87(1), 4–8 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
23. S. Sy, S. Y. Huang, Y.-X. J. Wang, J. Yu, A. T. Ahuja, Y.-T. Zhang, and E. Pickwell-MacPherson, “Terahertz spectroscopy of liver cirrhosis: investigating the origin of contrast,” Phys. Med. Biol.55(24), 7587–7596 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
24. S. Y. Huang, P. C. Ashworth, K. W. Kan, Y. Chen, V. P. Wallace, Y. T. Zhang, and E. Pickwell-MacPherson, “Improved sample characterization in terahertz reflection imaging and spectroscopy,” Opt. Express17(5), 3848–3854 (2009), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-17-5-3848 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
25. G. M. Png, J. W. Choi, B. W.-H. Ng, S. P. Mickan, D. Abbott, and X.-C. Zhang, “The impact of hydration changes in fresh bio-tissue on THz spectroscopic measurements,” Phys. Med. Biol.53(13), 3501–3517 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
26. G. Bindu, S. J. Abraham, A. Lonappan, V. Thomas, C. K. Aanandan, and K. T. Mathew, “Detection of dielectric contrast of breast tissues using confocal microwave technique,” Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett.48(6), 1187–1190 (2006). [CrossRef]
27. J.-Y. Lu, C.-C. Kuo, C.-M. Chiu, H.-W. Chen, Y.-J. Hwang, C.-L. Pan, and C.-K. Sun, “THz interferometric imaging using subwavelength plastic fiber based THz endoscopes,” Opt. Express16(4), 2494–2501 (2008), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-16-4-2494 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
28. L.-J. Chen, H.-W. Chen, T.-F. Kao, J.-Y. Lu, and C.-K. Sun, “Low-loss subwavelength plastic fiber for terahertz waveguiding,” Opt. Lett.31(3), 308–310 (2006), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ol/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-31-3-308 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
29. H.-W. Chen, Y.-T. Li, C. L. Pan, J. L. Kuo, J. Y. Lu, L. J. Chen, and C.-K. Sun, “Investigation on spectral loss characteristics of subwavelength terahertz fibers,” Opt. Lett.32(9), 1017–1019 (2007), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ol/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-32-9-1017 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
30. Y.-W. Huang, T.-F. Tseng, C.-C. Kuo, Y. J. Hwang, and C.-K. Sun, “Fiber-based swept-source terahertz radar,” Opt. Lett.35(9), 1344–1346 (2010), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-35-9-1344 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
31. E. Berry, G. C. Walker, A. J. Fitzgerald, N. N. Zinov'ev, M. Chamberlain, S. W. Smye, R. E. Miles, and M. A. Smith, “Do in vivo terahertz imaging systems comply with safety guidelines?” J. Laser Appl.15(3), 192–198 (2003). [CrossRef]
32. M. S. Gee, R. Upadhyay, H. Bergquist, H. Alencar, F. Reynolds, M. Maricevich, R. Weissleder, L. Josephson, and U. Mahmood, “Human breast cancer tumor models: molecular imaging of drug susceptibility and dosing during HER2/neu-targeted therapy,” Radiology248(3), 925–935 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
33. S. J. Nass, I. C. Henderson, and J. C. Lashof, “Mammography and beyond: developing techniques for the early detection of breast cancer,” in Institute of Medicine (National Academy Press, 2001).
34. A. C. M. Onuigbo, M. E. Cuffy-Hallam, N. A. Dunsmore, and E. S. Zinreich, “Mammography reveals a 2-mm intraductal breast carcinoma,” Hosp. Physician37, 61–64 (2001).
35. H. Chen, W.-J. Lee, H.-Y. Huang, C.-M. Chiu, Y.-F. Tsai, T.-F. Tseng, J.-T. Lu, W.-L. Lai, and C.-K. Sun, “Performance of THz fiber-scanning near-field microscopy to diagnose breast tumors,” Opt. Express19(20), 19523–19531 (2011), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-19-20-19523 . [CrossRef]

Acta Derm. Venereol.

• J. Sandby-Møller, T. Poulsen, and H. C. Wulf, “Epidermal thickness at different body sites: relationship to age, gender, pigmentation, blood content, skin type and smoking habits,” Acta Derm. Venereol.83(6), 410–413 (2003). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• M. Egawa, T. Hirao, and M. Takahashi, “In vivo estimation of stratum corneum thickness from water concentration profiles obtained with Raman spectroscopy,” Acta Derm. Venereol.87(1), 4–8 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Ann. Anat.

• E. Vandeweyer and D. Hertens, “Quantification of glands and fat in breast tissue: an experimental determination,” Ann. Anat.184(2), 181–184 (2002). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Ann. Intern. Med.

• N. T. Brewer, T. Salz, and S. E. Lillie, “Systematic review: the long-term effects of false-positive mammograms,” Ann. Intern. Med.146(7), 502–510 (2007). [PubMed]

Appl. Phys. Lett.

• J.-Y. Lu, C.-M. Chiu, C.-C. Kuo, C.-H. Lai, H.-C. Chang, Y.-J. Hwang, C.-L. Pan, and C.-K. Sun, “Terahertz scanning imaging with a subwavelength plastic fiber,” Appl. Phys. Lett.92(8), 084102 (2008). [CrossRef]

CA Cancer J. Clin.

• A. Jemal, R. Siegel, J. Xu, and E. Ward, “Cancer statistics, 2010,” CA Cancer J. Clin.60(5), 277–300 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Clin. Radiol.

• T. T. Alagaratnam and J. Wong, “Limitations of mammography in Chinese females,” Clin. Radiol.36(2), 175–177 (1985). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Dermatol. Surg.

• Y. Ullmann, O. Shoshani, A. Fodor, Y. Ramon, N. Carmi, L. Eldor, and A. Gilhar, “Searching for the favorable donor site for fat injection: in vivo study using the nude mice model,” Dermatol. Surg.31(10), 1304–1307 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Hosp. Physician

• A. C. M. Onuigbo, M. E. Cuffy-Hallam, N. A. Dunsmore, and E. S. Zinreich, “Mammography reveals a 2-mm intraductal breast carcinoma,” Hosp. Physician37, 61–64 (2001).

J. Anat.

• D. T. Ramsay, J. C. Kent, R. A. Hartmann, and P. E. Hartmann, “Anatomy of the lactating human breast redefined with ultrasound imaging,” J. Anat.206(6), 525–534 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

J. Biomed. Opt.

• D. B. Bennett, Z. D. Taylor, P. Tewari, R. S. Singh, M. O. Culjat, W. S. Grundfest, D. J. Sassoon, R. D. Johnson, J.-P. Hubschman, and E. R. Brown, “Terahertz sensing in corneal tissues,” J. Biomed. Opt.16(5), 057003 (2011). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

J. Laser Appl.

• E. Berry, G. C. Walker, A. J. Fitzgerald, N. N. Zinov'ev, M. Chamberlain, S. W. Smye, R. E. Miles, and M. A. Smith, “Do in vivo terahertz imaging systems comply with safety guidelines?” J. Laser Appl.15(3), 192–198 (2003). [CrossRef]

J. Natl. Cancer Inst. Monogr.

• S. A. Feig and R. E. Hendrick, “Radiation risk from screening mammography of women aged 40-49 years,” J. Natl. Cancer Inst. Monogr.22(22), 119–124 (1997). [PubMed]

J. Pharm. Sci.

• A. J. Fitzgerald, B. E. Cole, and P. F. Taday, “Nondestructive analysis of tablet coating thicknesses using terahertz pulsed imaging,” J. Pharm. Sci.94(1), 177–183 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett.

• G. Bindu, S. J. Abraham, A. Lonappan, V. Thomas, C. K. Aanandan, and K. T. Mathew, “Detection of dielectric contrast of breast tissues using confocal microwave technique,” Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett.48(6), 1187–1190 (2006). [CrossRef]

Nat. Photonics

• I. Duling and D. Zimdars, “Terahertz imaging revealing hidden defects,” Nat. Photonics3(11), 630–632 (2009). [CrossRef]

Nature

• R. Weissleder and M. J. Pittet, “Imaging in the era of molecular oncology,” Nature452(7187), 580–589 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Express

• P. C. Ashworth, E. Pickwell-MacPherson, E. Provenzano, S. E. Pinder, A. D. Purushotham, M. Pepper, and V. P. Wallace, “Terahertz pulsed spectroscopy of freshly excised human breast cancer,” Opt. Express17(15), 12444–12454 (2009), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm? URI=oe-17-15-12444 . [PubMed]
• J.-Y. Lu, C.-C. Kuo, C.-M. Chiu, H.-W. Chen, Y.-J. Hwang, C.-L. Pan, and C.-K. Sun, “THz interferometric imaging using subwavelength plastic fiber based THz endoscopes,” Opt. Express16(4), 2494–2501 (2008), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-16-4-2494 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• S. Y. Huang, P. C. Ashworth, K. W. Kan, Y. Chen, V. P. Wallace, Y. T. Zhang, and E. Pickwell-MacPherson, “Improved sample characterization in terahertz reflection imaging and spectroscopy,” Opt. Express17(5), 3848–3854 (2009), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-17-5-3848 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• H. Chen, W.-J. Lee, H.-Y. Huang, C.-M. Chiu, Y.-F. Tsai, T.-F. Tseng, J.-T. Lu, W.-L. Lai, and C.-K. Sun, “Performance of THz fiber-scanning near-field microscopy to diagnose breast tumors,” Opt. Express19(20), 19523–19531 (2011), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-19-20-19523 . [CrossRef]

Opt. Lett.

• L.-J. Chen, H.-W. Chen, T.-F. Kao, J.-Y. Lu, and C.-K. Sun, “Low-loss subwavelength plastic fiber for terahertz waveguiding,” Opt. Lett.31(3), 308–310 (2006), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ol/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-31-3-308 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• H.-W. Chen, Y.-T. Li, C. L. Pan, J. L. Kuo, J. Y. Lu, L. J. Chen, and C.-K. Sun, “Investigation on spectral loss characteristics of subwavelength terahertz fibers,” Opt. Lett.32(9), 1017–1019 (2007), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ol/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-32-9-1017 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• Y.-W. Huang, T.-F. Tseng, C.-C. Kuo, Y. J. Hwang, and C.-K. Sun, “Fiber-based swept-source terahertz radar,” Opt. Lett.35(9), 1344–1346 (2010), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-35-9-1344 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• C.-M. Chiu, H.-W. Chen, Y.-R. Huang, Y.-J. Hwang, W.-J. Lee, H. Y. Huang, and C. K. Sun, “All-terahertz fiber-scanning near-field microscopy,” Opt. Lett.34(7), 1084–1086 (2009), http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ol/abstract.cfm?URI=ol-34-7-1084 . [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Phys. Med. Biol.

• S. Sy, S. Y. Huang, Y.-X. J. Wang, J. Yu, A. T. Ahuja, Y.-T. Zhang, and E. Pickwell-MacPherson, “Terahertz spectroscopy of liver cirrhosis: investigating the origin of contrast,” Phys. Med. Biol.55(24), 7587–7596 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• G. M. Png, J. W. Choi, B. W.-H. Ng, S. P. Mickan, D. Abbott, and X.-C. Zhang, “The impact of hydration changes in fresh bio-tissue on THz spectroscopic measurements,” Phys. Med. Biol.53(13), 3501–3517 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Proc. SPIE

• E. Pickwell-MacPherson, “Terahertz pulsed imaging in vivo,” Proc. SPIE7897, 78970C, 78970C-6 (2011). [CrossRef]

Radiology

• A. J. Fitzgerald, V. P. Wallace, M. Jimenez-Linan, L. Bobrow, R. J. Pye, A. D. Purushotham, and D. D. Arnone, “Terahertz pulsed imaging of human breast tumors,” Radiology239(2), 533–540 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• M. S. Gee, R. Upadhyay, H. Bergquist, H. Alencar, F. Reynolds, M. Maricevich, R. Weissleder, L. Josephson, and U. Mahmood, “Human breast cancer tumor models: molecular imaging of drug susceptibility and dosing during HER2/neu-targeted therapy,” Radiology248(3), 925–935 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Stud. Health Technol. Inform.

• P. Tewari, Z. D. Taylor, D. Bennett, R. S. Singh, M. O. Culjat, C. P. Kealey, J. P. Hubschman, S. White, A. Cochran, E. R. Brown, and W. S. Grundfest, “Terahertz imaging of biological tissues,” Stud. Health Technol. Inform.163, 653–657 (2011). [PubMed]

World J. Radiol.

• Y. Sun, M. Y. Sy, Y.-X. J. Wang, A. T. Ahuja, Y.-T. Zhang, and E. Pickwell-Macpherson, “A promising diagnostic method: Terahertz pulsed imaging and spectroscopy,” World J. Radiol.3(3), 55–65 (2011). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Other

• K.-H. Ng, “Non-ionizing radiations: sources, biological effects, emissions and exposures,” in Proceedings of the International Conference on Non-Ionizing Radiation at UNITEN (ICNIR2003) Electromagnetic Fields and Our Health (Selangor, Malaysia, 2003), pp. 1–16.
• P. C. Ashworth, E. Pickwell-MacPherson, S. E. Pinder, E. Provenzano, A. D. Purushotham, M. Pepper, and V. P. Wallace, “Terahertz spectroscopy of breast tumors,” in Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Infrared and Millimeter Waves and Terahertz Electronics (Cardiff, UK, 2007), pp. 603–605.
• S. J. Nass, I. C. Henderson, and J. C. Lashof, “Mammography and beyond: developing techniques for the early detection of breast cancer,” in Institute of Medicine (National Academy Press, 2001).

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