Non-contact imaging of breast surface for breast surgical planning

Objective and accurate surface measurements of the human breast are important for surgical planning. Traditionally, surgeons plan their procedures using radiographic images, but these images do not illustrate the breast in the surgical position (i.e. supine position). As a result, surgeons need to account for differences in breast size and shape, and surgical outcome is largely dependent on the surgeon’s experience. Previous studies have shown that scanning large-breasted patients in the standing position resulted in breast ptosis and high variability. A system capable of accurately scanning patients in the supine position is therefore desirable. The aim of this work was to develop a non-contact imaging system that can provide 3D information of each breast surface from patients in the supine position. Two structured-light surface scanners were combined using separate colour optical filters to minimize cross-talk between scanners. Test scans were collected from a 3D printed breast phantom in both the supine and standing positions. Scanning with blue and green filters simultaneously at two different angles eliminated shadowing artifacts compared to a single scanner reconstruction. The mean error distance between the phantom CAD model and point cloud measurements was 0.1 ± 0.1 mm for both standing and supine positions. Our system performed better than currently available commercial systems, which have accuracy of 0.5 - 1 mm.