Study of application of X-ray scattering techniques to produce breast nanoimages

Abstract

The increasing development of technologies for nanoscale study has provided advances in several areas, including medicine. In nanomedicine, the demand for less invasive methods for breast cancer diagnosis at early stage has attracted the interest of researchers since the early diagnosis of this disease greatly increases the chances of cure of the patients. In this sense, the purpose of this project is to study the combination of the computed tomography imaging method with techniques for X-ray scattering using the tools available to explore nanoscale at synchrotron light laboratories to produce three-dimensional images of normal and neoplastic human breast tissues with nanometer resolution. The images obtained will allow to inspect the entire breast volume in 3D with higher contrast between healthy and neoplastic tissue by using the technique of X-ray diffraction nanotomography computerized imaging (nTC-IXRD), and information about the spread of cancer in the supramolecular scale from small angle x-ray scattering nanotomography computerized imaging (nTC-ISAXS), a less invasive manner. This type of study is potentially important in healthcare because it is associated with the study of new radiological techniques that will complement the information of current imaging techniques and thus increase the capability of breast cancer diagonosis. (AU)