Scanning point terahertz source microscopy of unstained comedo ductal carcinoma in situ
Kōsuke Okada, Quentin Cassar, Hironaru Murakami, Gaëtan MacGrogan, Jean-Paul Guillet, Patrick Mounaix, Masayoshi Tonouchi, Kazunori Serita
Abstract
Terahertz imaging is an emerging candidate to diagnose breast cancers in a label-free manner. However, detailed terahertz analysis of early stage breast cancers is difficult to achieve owing to its low spatial resolution. In this study, utilizing a probe-less terahertz near-field microscope named scanning point terahertz source microscope, we visualize an unstained comedo ductal-carcinoma- in-situ including an architectural structure (comedo necrosis) measuring ∼ ϕ 500 µm, which is known as highly-malignant early-stage breast cancer, in terahertz images for the first time. The outcome is a critical step toward the label-free diagnosis of single early stage cancer lesions with terahertz waves.