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Radiotherapy is a common and effective treatment for certain breast cancers. One potential drawback from this therapy is the development of varying degrees of erythema that typically occur after the treatment has been completed. Currently there are no tools to quantify radiation-induced skin changes during and after radiation and the standardized scoring systems remain subjective. Developing these tools would not only allow clinicians to objectively assess patients, but could potentially inform them as to which patients are likely to develop more severe side effects. Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) is a non-invasive, non-contact imaging technique capable of quantitatively mapping tissue absorption and scattering properties that can be converted into tissue oxygen saturation, total hemoglobin concentration and reduced scattering coefficients. Here we present a study of 13 breast cancer patients that have been prescribed radiation therapy and imaged using SFDI before, during, and after radiation treatment over the course of several weeks. A preliminary analysis of the data shows increases in total hemoglobin concentration as high as 75% in the treated breast tissue compared to highs of 10% in control regions at the end of the radiation treatments. Additionally, changes in the reduced scattering coefficient as high as 25% in the treated breast tissue can be seen a week before the treatment is complete and hyperpigmentation is visible. The aim of this study is to characterize radiation induced changes in skin using SFDI in order to provide clinicians with a technology that can inform radiation protocols (such as dose, frequency and duration) thereby minimizing unnecessary skin toxicity while maximizing treatment efficacy.
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