A Systematic Review of the Effects of Diffuse Optical Imaging in Breast Diseases

Background: Optical mammography is a new diagnostic method that uses Near-infrared for detection of functional abnormalities and shows tissue activities by measuring absorption and scattering of Near-infrared light. This study aims to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of this technology. Methods: Cochrane Library (Issue 10, 2012) and Medline (Nov 2012) were searched using free text and Mesh. Studies that compared optical mammography with other diagnostic methods and used outcomes such as sensitivity, specificity and safety were included. Results: Twelve studies were included in this review. A multicenter RCT showed that among 875 biopsied lesions, suspicion index led to 97 % sensitivity, 14% specificity, 95 % negative predictive value and 24 % positive predictive value. In terms of oxygenation index, the included studies found that the process should be used with various wavelengths compared to single wavelength technique (690