The reliability and validity of triceps surae muscle volume assessment using freehand three-dimensional ultrasound in typically developing infants.

This study assessed the intra-acquirer, intra- and inter-processor reliability, and validity of the in vivo assessment of the medial gastrocnemius (MG), lateral gastrocnemius (LG) and soleus (SOL) muscle volumes using freehand 3D ultrasound (3DUS) in typically developing infants. Reliability assessments of freehand 3DUS were undertaken in infants across three ages groups: three, six and twelve months of age, with validity testing completed against magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in infants at 3 months of age. Freehand 3DUS scanning was carried out by a single acquirer, with two independent processors manually segmenting images to render volumes. MRI images were segmented independently by a separate processor, with the volumes compared to those obtained via freehand 3DUS. Reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation (ICC), coefficient of variance (CV) and minimal detectable change (MDC) across each assessment time point. Validity was assessed using the limits of agreement. ICCs for intra-acquirer reliability of the acquisition process for freehand 3DUS ranged from 0.91 to 0.99 across all muscles. ICCs for intra-processor and inter-processor reliability for the segmentation process of freehand 3DUS ranged from 0.80 to 0.98 across all muscles. Acceptable levels of agreement between muscle volume obtained by freehand 3DUS and MRI were found for all muscles; however, freehand 3DUS overestimated muscle volume of MG and LG and underestimate the SOL compared with MRI, with average absolute differences of MG = 0.3 ml, LG = 0.3 ml and Sol = 1.2 ml. Freehand 3DUS is a reliable method for measuring in vivo triceps surae muscle volume in typically developing infants. We conclude that freehand 3DUS is a useful tool to assess changes in muscle volume in response to growth and interventions in infants.

Effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on the contralateral non-tumor-bearing breast assessed by diffuse optical tomography.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the changes in optically derived parameters acquired with a diffuse optical tomography breast imager system (DOTBIS) in the contralateral non-tumor-bearing breast in patients administered neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for breast cancer are associated with pathologic complete response (pCR). METHODS: In this retrospective evaluation of 105 patients with stage II-III breast cancer, oxy-hemoglobin (ctO2Hb) from the contralateral non-tumor-bearing breast was collected and analyzed at different time points during NAC. The earliest monitoring imaging time point was after 2-3 weeks receiving taxane. Longitudinal data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects modeling to evaluate the contralateral breast ctO2Hb changes across chemotherapy when corrected for pCR status, age, and BMI. RESULTS: Patients who achieved pCR to NAC had an overall decrease of 3.88 µM for ctO2Hb (95% CI, 1.39 to 6.37 µM), p = .004, after 2-3 weeks. On the other hand, non-pCR subjects had a non-significant mean reduction of 0.14 µM (95% CI, - 1.30 to 1.58 µM), p > .05. Mixed-effect model results indicated a statistically significant negative relationship of ctO2Hb levels with BMI and age. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the contralateral normal breast tissue assessed by DOTBIS is modifiable after NAC, with changes associated with pCR after only 2-3 weeks of chemotherapy.

Diffuse optical tomography breast imaging measurements are modifiable with pre-surgical targeted and endocrine therapies among women with early stage breast cancer.

PURPOSE: Diffuse optical tomography breast imaging system (DOTBIS) non-invasively measures tissue concentration of hemoglobin, which is a potential biomarker of short-term response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We evaluated whether DOTBIS-derived measurements are modifiable with targeted therapies, including AKT inhibition and endocrine therapy. METHODS: We conducted a proof of principle study in seven postmenopausal women with stage I-III breast cancer who were enrolled in pre-surgical studies of the AKT inhibitor MK-2206 (n = 4) or the aromatase inhibitors exemestane (n = 2) and letrozole (n = 1). We performed DOTBIS at baseline (before initiation of therapy) and post-therapy in the affected breast (tumor volume) and contralateral, unaffected breast, and measured tissue concentrations (in µM) of total hemoglobin (ctTHb), oxyhemoglobin (ctO2Hb), and deoxyhemoglobin (ctHHb), as well as water fraction (%). RESULTS: We found consistent decreases in DOTBIS-measured hemoglobin concentrations in tumor volume, with median percent changes for ctTHb, ctHHb, ctO2Hb, and water fraction for the entire cohort of - 27.1% (interquartile range [IQR] 37.5%), - 49.8% (IQR 29.3%), - 33.5% (IQR 47.4%), and - 3.6% (IQR 10.6%), respectively. In the contralateral breast, median percent changes for ctTHb, ctHHb, ctO2Hb, and water fraction were + 1.8% (IQR 26.7%), - 8.6% (IQR 29.3%), + 6.2% (IQR 29.5%), and + 1.9% (IQR 30.7%), respectively. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that DOTBIS-derived measurements are modifiable with pre-surgical AKT inhibition and endocrine therapy, supporting further investigation of DOTBIS as a potential imaging assessment of response to neoadjuvant targeted therapies in early stage breast cancer.

Do psychosocial variables mediate the relationship between menopause symptoms and sexual function in middle-aged perimenopausal women?

AIM: To test a hypothetical path model evaluating the influence of menopause symptoms on sexual function among middle-aged perimenopausal women, as well as identify the mediating roles of body image, depression and sexual communication in this relationship. METHODS: We used a cross-sectional, correlational design. We included one exogenous variable (menopause symptoms) and four endogenous variables (body image, depression, sexual communication and sexual function) in the proposed model. All data were collected between January 19 and March 11, 2016, and analyzed using spss statistics 25.0 and AMOS 23.0. RESULTS: Eight of the nine hypothesized paths in the model were significant. Specifically, menopause symptoms were significantly associated with sexual function via the effects of body image, depression and sexual communication. CONCLUSION: This study may provide basic data for counseling and nursing programs to help improve sexual function in middle-aged perimenopausal women. Particularly, these programs should focus on the indirect paths via body image, depression and sexual communication, such as by improving body image and sexual communication and reducing depression.

Identifying Traffic Context Using Driving Stress: A Longitudinal Preliminary Case Study.

Many previous studies have identified that physiological responses of a driver are significantly associated with driving stress. However, research is limited to identifying the effects of traffic conditions (low vs. high traffic) and road types (highway vs. city) on driving stress. The objective of this study is to quantify the relationship between driving stress and traffic conditions, and driving stress and road types, respectively. In this study, electrodermal activity (EDA) signals for a male driver were collected in real road driving conditions for 60 min a day for 21 days. To classify the levels of driving stress (low vs. high), two separate models were developed by incorporating the statistical features of the EDA signals, one for traffic conditions and the other for road types. Both models were based on the application of EDA features with the logistic regression analysis. City driving turned out to be more stressful than highway driving. Traffic conditions, defined as traffic jam also significantly affected the stress level of the driver, when using the criteria of the vehicle speed of 40 km/h and standard deviation of the speed of 20 km/h. Relevance to industry: The classification results of the two models indicate that the traffic conditions and the road types are important features for driving stress and its related applications.

Dynamic Diffuse Optical Tomography for Monitoring Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients with Breast Cancer.

Purpose To identify dynamic optical imaging features that associate with the degree of pathologic response in patients with breast cancer during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Materials and Methods Of 40 patients with breast cancer who participated in a longitudinal study between June 2011 and March 2016, 34 completed the study. There were 13 patients who obtained a pathologic complete response (pCR) and 21 patients who did not obtain a pCR. Imaging data from six subjects were excluded from the study because either the patients dropped out of the study before it was finished or there was an instrumentation malfunction. Two weeks into the treatment regimen, three-dimensional images of both breasts during a breath hold were acquired by using dynamic diffuse optical tomography. Features from the breath-hold traces were used to distinguish between response groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and sensitivity analysis were used to determine the degree of association with 5-month treatment outcome. Results An ROC curve analysis showed that this method could identify patients with a pCR with a positive predictive value of 70.6% (12 of 17), a negative predictive value of 94.1% (16 of 17), a sensitivity of 92.3% (12 of 13), a specificity of 76.2% (16 of 21), and an area under the ROC curve of 0.85. Conclusion Several dynamic optical imaging features obtained within 2 weeks of NAC initiation were identified that showed statistically significant differences between patients with pCR and patients without pCR as determined 5 months after treatment initiation. If confirmed in a larger cohort prospective study, these dynamic imaging features may be used to predict treatment outcome as early as 2 weeks after treatment initiation. © RSNA, 2018 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Diffuse optical tomography changes correlate with residual cancer burden after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.

PURPOSE: Breast cancer (BC) patients who achieve a favorable residual cancer burden (RCB) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) have an improved recurrence-free survival. Those who have an unfavorable RCB will have gone through months of ineffective chemotherapy. No ideal method exists to predict a favorable RCB early during NACT. Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is a novel imaging modality that uses near-infrared light to assess hemoglobin concentrations within breast tumors. We hypothesized that the 2-week percent change in DOT-measured hemoglobin concentrations would associate with RCB. METHODS: We conducted an observational study of 40 women with stage II-IIIC BC who received standard NACT. DOT imaging was performed at baseline and 2 weeks after treatment initiation. We evaluated the associations between the RCB index (continuous measure), class (categorical 0, I, II, III), and response (RCB class 0/I = favorable, RCB class II/III = unfavorable) with changes in DOT-measured hemoglobin concentrations. RESULTS: The RCB index correlated significantly with the 2-week percent change in oxyhemoglobin [HbO2] (r = 0.5, p = 0.003), deoxyhemoglobin [Hb] (r = 0.37, p = 0.03), and total hemoglobin concentrations [HbT] (r = 0.5, p = 0.003). The RCB class and response significantly associated with the 2-week percent change in [HbO2] (p ≤ 0.01) and [HbT] (p ≤ 0.02). [HbT] 2-week percent change had sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive values for a favorable RCB response of 86.7, 68.4, 68.4, and 86.7%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The 2-week percent change in DOT-measured hemoglobin concentrations was associated with the RCB index, class, and response. DOT may help guide NACT for women with BC.

Assessment of Infantile Hemangiomas Using a Handheld Wireless Diffuse Optical Spectroscopic Device.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are vascular tumors with the potential for significant morbidity. There is a lack of validated objective tools to assess IH severity and response to treatment. Diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS), a noninvasive, nonionizing imaging modality, can measure total hemoglobin concentration and hemoglobin oxygen saturation in tissue to assess IH vascularity and response to treatment. Our objective was to evaluate the utility of a wireless, handheld DOS system to assess IH characteristics at selected points during their clinical course. METHODS: Thirteen subjects (initial age 5.8 ± 2.0 mos) with 15 IHs were enrolled. IHs were classified as proliferative, plateau phase, or involuting. Nine patients with 11 IHs were untreated; four patients with 4 IHs were treated with timolol or propranolol. Each IH was evaluated by placing the DOS system directly on the lesion as well a normal contralateral skin site. IH vascularity and oxygenation were scored using a newly defined normalized hypoxia fraction (NHF) coefficient. Measurements were recorded at various intervals from the initial visit to 1 to 2 years of age. RESULTS: For the nine untreated IHs, the NHF was highest at 6 months of age, during proliferation. Differences in NHFs between the proliferation and the plateau (p = 0.02) and involuting (p < 0.001) stages were statistically significant. In treated patients, the NHF normalized to 60% after 2 months. One treated IH came within 5% of the NHF for normal skin after 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: DOS can be used to assess the vascularity and tissue oxygenation of IHs and monitor their progression and response to treatment.

Fast linear solver for radiative transport equation with multiple right hand sides in diffuse optical tomography.

It is well known that radiative transfer equation (RTE) provides more accurate tomographic results than its diffusion approximation (DA). However, RTE-based tomographic reconstruction codes have limited applicability in practice due to their high computational cost. In this article, we propose a new efficient method for solving the RTE forward problem with multiple light sources in an all-at-once manner instead of solving it for each source separately. To this end, we introduce here a novel linear solver called block biconjugate gradient stabilized method (block BiCGStab) that makes full use of the shared information between different right hand sides to accelerate solution convergence. Two parallelized block BiCGStab methods are proposed for additional acceleration under limited threads situation. We evaluate the performance of this algorithm with numerical simulation studies involving the Delta-Eddington approximation to the scattering phase function. The results show that the single threading block RTE solver proposed here reduces computation time by a factor of 1.5~3 as compared to the traditional sequential solution method and the parallel block solver by a factor of 1.5 as compared to the traditional parallel sequential method. This block linear solver is, moreover, independent of discretization schemes and preconditioners used; thus further acceleration and higher accuracy can be expected when combined with other existing discretization schemes or preconditioners.

Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in Korean human milk: contamination levels and infant risk assessment.

The levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) were determined in 50 samples of Korean human milk. POPs include organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) [aldrin, chlordanes, dieldrin, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), endrins, heptachlors, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), mirex, and toxaphenes] and marker PCBs (PCB28, PCB52, PCB101, PCB138, PCB153 and PCB180). In all samples, p,p'-DDE were determined as 75.5-1115.3 ng/g fat. The compounds ß-HCH and p,p'-DDT were detected at 72% and 60% of the samples, respectively. Chlordanes (nd-84.9 ng/g fat) heptachlors (nd-40.1 ng/g fat), HCB (nd-42.9 ng/g fat) and PCBs (nd-38.3 ng/g fat) were detected in several samples. The ratio of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethylene (DDE)/DDT was 6.8, which explained that exposure of volunteers to DDT did not occur recently. Compared with the previous monitoring data, the level of marker PCBs generally decreased in the milk samples. The levels of OCPs are significantly correlated to the residential periods of the mothers but not with their dietary habits. Considering the daily intake of each OCPs, 18% of infants would ingest the amount of heptachlor exceeding the acceptable daily intake (ADI) proposed by World Health Organization (WHO). There was no sample surpassing the WHO ADI for DDTs, HCB and chlordanes.

Application of artificial intelligence in medical technologies: A systematic review of main trends.

Objective: Artificial intelligence (AI) has been increasingly applied in various fields of science and technology. In line with the current research, medicine involves an increasing number of artificial intelligence technologies. The introduction of rapid AI can lead to positive and negative effects. This is a multilateral analytical literature review aimed at identifying the main branches and trends in the use of using artificial intelligence in medical technologies. Methods: The total number of literature sources reviewed is n = 89, and they are analyzed based on the literature reporting evidence-based guideline PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) for a systematic review. Results: As a result, from the initially selected 198 references, 155 references were obtained from the databases and the remaining 43 sources were found on open internet as direct links to publications. Finally, 89 literature sources were evaluated after exclusion of unsuitable references based on the duplicated and generalized information without focusing on the users. Conclusions: This article is identifying the current state of artificial intelligence in medicine and prospects for future use. The findings of this review will be useful for healthcare and AI professionals for improving the circulation and use of medical AI from design to implementation stage.

Differences in office-based personal space perception between British and Korean populations.

We sought to understand how the perception of personal space is influenced by different levels of social density, spatial density, and type of window-view in South Korean and United Kingdom workplaces. We employed virtual reality to simulate shared and single occupancy offices. We obtained personal space estimations using a virtual disc around the participant which could be extended and retracted, inside the simulation, to indicate perceived amount of personal space, and compared this measure to questionnaire-based estimations. We found that in both cultures participants experienced greater perceived personal space (1) when in a sparse rather than dense office and (2) having a view of the city outside the office. However, British, but not Korean, participants had significantly higher personal space estimations in single occupancy offices than in shared offices. These results suggest subtle cross-cultural differences in workplace experience, that could only be investigated using virtual reality.

Measuring User-Perceived Characteristics for Banking Services: Proposing a Methodology.

With the continuous technological enhancement of banking services, customers can avail of better, more secure services which present improved opportunities and convenience. Of the many methods available to perform banking operations, customers commonly use traditional banking, online banking, and mobile banking. Each of these existing methods has advantages and limitations that affect customer experience, trust, satisfaction, and continued intention to use such services. In this study, an attempt was made to develop and fit a model to evaluate and measure the effect of perceived characteristics on banking services. To this end, a questionnaire was administered to 91 participants in Korea to investigate their experiences in the three types of services: offline banking (traditional banking), online banking, and automated teller machines (ATM). The factor design for evaluating the user experience through the perceived characteristics of the banking system was performed by conducting exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The proposed model exhibited validity and reliability to evaluate the user experience in the banking system. The results obtained can help banking specialists and professionals increase the level of customers' trust, loyalty, and intention to use their services.

High Resolution, Deep Imaging Using Confocal Time-of-Flight Diffuse Optical Tomography.

Light scattering by tissue severely limits how deep beneath the surface one can image, and the spatial resolution one can obtain from these images. Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is one of the most powerful techniques for imaging deep within tissue - well beyond the conventional  âˆ¼ 10-15 mean scattering lengths tolerated by ballistic imaging techniques such as confocal and two-photon microscopy. Unfortunately, existing DOT systems are limited, achieving only centimeter-scale resolution. Furthermore, they suffer from slow acquisition times and slow reconstruction speeds making real-time imaging infeasible. We show that time-of-flight diffuse optical tomography (ToF-DOT) and its confocal variant (CToF-DOT), by exploiting the photon travel time information, allow us to achieve millimeter spatial resolution in the highly scattered diffusion regime ( mean free paths). In addition, we demonstrate two additional innovations: focusing on confocal measurements, and multiplexing the illumination sources allow us to significantly reduce the measurement acquisition time. Finally, we rely on a novel convolutional approximation that allows us to develop a fast reconstruction algorithm, achieving a 100× speedup in reconstruction time compared to traditional DOT reconstruction techniques. Together, we believe that these technical advances serve as the first step towards real-time, millimeter resolution, deep tissue imaging using DOT.

Analysis of Relationship between Electroencephalograms and Subjective Measurements for In-Vehicle Information System: A Preliminary Study.

In this study, we explored the relationship between objective and subjective measures for usability evaluation in in-vehicle infotainment systems (IVISs). As a case study, four displays were evaluated based on cluster location and display orientation (that is, front-horizontal, front-vertical, right-horizontal, and right-vertical). Thirty-six participants performed tasks to manipulate the functions of the IVISs and data were collected through an electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor and questionnaire items. We analysed a model that estimated EEG-based objective indicators from subjective indicators. As a result, the objective indicators reflected the subjective indicators and were considered to explain the driver's cognitive state. Although EEG data were collected from only four participants, this study proposed an experimental design that could be applied to the analysis of the relationship between the subject's evaluation and EEG signals, as a preliminary study. We expect the experimental design and results of this study to be useful in analysing objective and subjective measures of usability evaluation.

Flexible optical imaging band system for the assessment of arthritis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

We have developed a flexible optical imaging system (FOIS) to assess systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) arthritis in the finger joints. While any part of the body can be affected, arthritis in the finger joints is one of the most common SLE manifestations. There is an unmet need for accurate, low-cost assessment of lupus arthritis that can be easily performed at every clinic visit. Current imaging methods are imprecise, expensive, and time consuming to allow for frequent monitoring. Our FOIS can be wrapped around joints, and multiple light sources and detectors gather reflected and transmitted light intensities. Using data from two SLE patients and two healthy volunteers, we demonstrate the potential of this FOIS for assessment of arthritis in SLE patients.

Changes in Diffuse Optical Tomography Images During Early Stages of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Correlate with Tumor Response in Different Breast Cancer Subtypes.

PURPOSE: This study's primary objective was to evaluate the changes in optically derived parameters acquired with a diffuse optical tomography breast imaging system (DOTBIS) in the tumor volume of patients with breast carcinoma receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: In this analysis of 105 patients with stage II-III breast cancer, normalized mean values of total hemoglobin ([Formula: see text]), oxyhemoglobin ([Formula: see text]), deoxy-hemoglobin concentration ([Formula: see text]), water, and oxygen saturation ([Formula: see text]) percentages were collected at different timepoints during NAC and compared with baseline measurements. This report compared changes in these optical biomarkers measured in patients who did not achieve a pathologic complete response (non-pCR) and those with a pCR. Differences regarding molecular subtypes were included for hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative, HER2-positive, and triple-negative breast cancer. RESULTS: At baseline, [Formula: see text] was higher for pCR tumors (3.97 ± 2.29) compared with non-pCR tumors (3.00 ± 1.72; P = 0.031). At the earliest imaging point after starting therapy, the mean change of [Formula: see text] compared with baseline ([Formula: see text]) was statistically significantly higher in non-pCR (1.23 ± 0.67) than in those with a pCR (0.87 ± 0.61; P < 0.0005), and significantly correlated to residual cancer burden classification (r = 0.448; P < 0.0005). [Formula: see text] combined with HER2 status was proposed as a two-predictor logistic model, with AUC = 0.891; P < 0.0005; and 95% confidence interval, 0.812-0.969. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that DOTBIS measured features change over time according to tumor pCR status and may predict early in the NAC treatment course whether a patient is responding to NAC.

Transdifferentiation-inducing HCCR-1 oncogene.

BACKGROUND: Cell transdifferentiation is characterized by loss of some phenotypes along with acquisition of new phenotypes in differentiated cells. The differentiated state of a given cell is not irreversible. It depends on the up- and downregulation exerted by specific molecules. RESULTS: We report here that HCCR-1, previously shown to play an oncogenic role in human cancers, induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) in human and mouse, respectively. The stem cell factor receptor CD117/c-Kit was induced in this transdifferentiated (EMT) sarcoma tissues. This MET occurring in HCCR-1 transfected cells is reminiscent of the transdifferentiation process during nephrogenesis. Indeed, expression of HCCR-1 was observed during the embryonic development of the kidney. This suggests that HCCR-1 might be involved in the transdifferentiation process of cancer stem cell. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, we propose that HCCR-1 may be a regulatory factor that stimulates morphogenesis of epithelia or mesenchyme during neoplastic transformation.

Epilepsy with dual pathology: surgical treatment of cortical dysplasia accompanied by hippocampal sclerosis.

PURPOSE: The presence of two or more epileptogenic pathologies in patients with epilepsy is often observed, and the coexistence of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) is one of the most frequent clinical presentations. Although surgical resection has been an important treatment for patients with refractory epilepsy associated with FCD, there are few studies on the surgical treatment of FCD accompanied by HS, and treatment by resection of both neocortical dysplastic tissue and hippocampus is still controversial. METHODS: We retrospectively recruited epilepsy patients who had undergone surgical treatment for refractory epilepsy with the pathologic diagnosis of FCD and the radiologic evidence of HS. We evaluated the prognostic roles of clinical factors, various diagnostic modalities, surgical procedures, and the severity of pathology. RESULTS: A total of 40 patients were included, and only 35.0% of patients became seizure free. Complete resection of the epileptogenic area (p = 0.02), and the presence of dysmorphic neurons or balloon cells on histopathology (p = 0.01) were associated with favorable surgical outcomes. Patients who underwent hippocampal resection were more likely to have a favorable surgical outcome (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: We show that patients with complete resection of epileptogenic area, the presence of dysmorphic neurons or balloon cells on histopathology, or resection of hippocampus have a higher chance of a favorable surgical outcome. We believe that this observation is useful in planning of surgical procedures and predicting the prognoses of individual patients with FCD patients accompanied by HS.

Diffuse optical tomography of the breast: a potential modifiable biomarker of breast cancer risk with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a diffuse optical tomography breast imaging system (DOTBIS) can provide a comparable optical-based image index of mammographic breast density, an established biomarker of breast cancer risk. Oxyhemoglobin concentration (ctO2Hb) measured by DOTBIS was collected from 40 patients with stage II-III breast cancer. The tumor-free contralateral breast was used for this evaluation. We observed a moderate positive correlation between the patient's mammogram density classification and ctO2Hb, rs = 0.486 (p = 0.001). In addition, significant reduction in ctO2Hb levels were noted during neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment (p = 0.017). This observation indicates that ctO2Hb levels measured by DOTBIS could be a novel modifiable imaging biomarker of breast cancer risk and warrants further investigation.