A non-invasive medical imaging technique that utilizes red and near-infrared light could very well be the next vital step in providing customized treatment for breast cancer patients. This is according to the latest study conducted by researchers at the Columbia University in the United States.

For women afflicted with breast cancer and are undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy, this method can measure the blood flow dynamics in their breasts. The treatment is generally given to women who have recently been diagnosed with invasive but operable breast cancer for five to six months prior to undergoing surgery.

The researchers at Columbia University tested the technique on 34 invasive breast cancer patients between June 2011 and March 2016. They were asked to hold their breath for 15 seconds while using their imaging technique and this helped the scientists identify which among the patients would actually respond to chemotherapy. They then compared the images taken with the outcomes of the patients after undergoing chemotherapy for five months. Images were taken two weeks prior and after starting treatment.

A complete response is determined if it is seen that chemotherapy has eliminated all active cancer cells, and this serves as an indication that the disease has a lower chance of recurring. The results were shared through a study titled "Dynamic Diffuse Optical Tomography for Monitoring Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer," published on a Radiology journal. The study was led by Dr. Dawn Hershman, head of the Breast Cancer Program at Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia.

The study authors conclude that this treatment is useful in giving an early indication that a specific patient will not respond to the treatment that they may be getting. This will then enable doctors to change whichever treatment they initially considered administering in order to avoid side effects.

While other imaging techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI, X-ray and ultrasound are also being studied as means to monitor breast cancer, the new treatment is seen as a sounder means of assessing whether a tumor is responding to chemotherapy.

A larger-scale clinical trial is underway, giving this new technology three to five years before it can potentially be marketed to the public.