Abstract
Structural changes in breast tissue at the nanometre scale have been shown to differentiate between tissue types using synchrotron SAXS techniques. Classification of breast tissues using information acquired from a laboratory SAXS camera source could possibly provide a means of adopting SAXS as a viable diagnostic procedure. Tissue samples were obtained from surgical waste from 66 patients and structural components of the tissues were examined between q = 0.25 and 2.3 nm-1. Principal component analysis showed that the amplitude of the fifth-order axial Bragg peak, the magnitude of the integrated intensity and the full-width at half-maximum of the fat peak were significantly different between tissue types. A discriminant analysis showed that excellent classification can be achieved; however, only 30% of the tissue samples provided the 16 variables required for classification. This suggests that the presence of disease is represented by a combination of factors, rather than one specific trait. A closer examination of the amorphous scattering intensity showed not only a trend of increased scattering intensity with disease severity, but also a corresponding decrease in the size of the scatterers contributing to this intensity.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 6779-6791 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Physics in Medicine and Biology |
Volume | 56 |
Issue number | 21 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 5 Oct 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |