Papadoliopoulou Maria, Koutsoumpos Spyridon, Margaris Ioannis, Matiatou Maria, Giannios Panagiotis, Arkadopoulos Nikolaos, Moutzouris Konstantinos, Michalopoulos Nikolaos V
4th Department of Surgery, Attikon University Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 1 Rimini Street, Chaidari, 12462 Athens, Greece.
Laboratory of Electronic Devices and Materials, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of West Attica, 12244 Egaleo, Greece.
J Pers Med. 2025 Feb 18;15(2):71. doi: 10.3390/jpm15020071.
Breast malignancy is the most common cancer type and the second leading cause of cancer-related death for women all ages. Axillary surgery provides prognostic and predictive information, but carries significant morbidity. Imaging techniques are a promising field, providing the characterization of biological tissues using the interaction between the light and a medium, and may offer an accurate cancerous diagnosis without the need for formal histopathological examination. In this study, using a prism couple refractometer, we sought to determine tissues' reflection profiles in freshly excised human lymph nodes from female patients with breast cancer, in whom axillary lymph node dissection was performed. Thirty-four patients were included, contributing a total number of 90 lymph nodes and, according to our results, the median refractive indices were significantly higher in cancerous lymph nodes compared to normal lymph nodes in 450 nm, 964 nm, and 1551 nm wavelengths ( < 0.05). Results from this small experimental study imply that the use of a prism couple refractometer may aid in the discrimination between benign and malignant axillary lymph nodes in female patients with breast cancer.
乳腺癌是最常见的癌症类型，也是各年龄段女性癌症相关死亡的第二大主要原因。腋窝手术可提供预后和预测信息，但会带来显著的发病率。成像技术是一个很有前景的领域，它利用光与介质之间的相互作用来表征生物组织，并且可能无需进行正式的组织病理学检查就能提供准确的癌症诊断。在本研究中，我们使用棱镜耦合折射仪，试图确定来自接受腋窝淋巴结清扫术的女性乳腺癌患者新鲜切除的人淋巴结中的组织反射谱。纳入了34名患者，共90个淋巴结，根据我们的结果，在450nm、964nm和1551nm波长下，癌性淋巴结的中位折射率显著高于正常淋巴结（<0.05）。这项小型实验研究的结果表明，使用棱镜耦合折射仪可能有助于鉴别女性乳腺癌患者腋窝淋巴结的良恶性。
