Diagnostic US for Reduction of Benign Breast Biopsies Using US-guided Optical Tomography

September 5, 2025 updated by: Washington University School of Medicine

Improving Diagnostic US for Reduction of Benign Breast Biopsies Using US-guided Optical Tomography

Ultrasound-guided diffuse optical tomography (DOT) has demonstrated its potential role in differentiating malignant and benign breast abnormalities and in predicting and monitoring the neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) response of breast cancer. This unique approach employs a commercial ultrasound (US) transducer and near infrared (NIR) optical imaging sensors mounted on a hand-held US probe. The co-registered US is used for lesion localization, and optical sensors are used for imaging tumor related vascularity.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
298

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Missouri
      • St Louis, Missouri, United States, 63110
        • Washington University School of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Female subjects ≥ 18 years old with ultrasound visible breast abnormalities (BI-RADS 3*, 4A, 4B, 4C, and 5) referred for ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy or fine needle aspiration

    *note that while a BI-RADS 3 assessment is probably benign, a subset of patients with this assessment choose to undergo biopsy rather than follow up imaging).

  • Willing and able to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Lesions located in the darkly pigmented nipple-areolar complex area
  • Subjects with breast implants
  • Abnormality in the mirror image location of the contralateral breast.
  • Additional abnormalities in the same region of the breast that would be included in US-guided DOT imaging of the abnormality undergoing biopsy
  • Previous breast irradiation of the mirror image location of the contralateral breast
  • Lesions located at previous biopsy sites when biopsy occurred within the last six months.
  • Pregnancy
  • Superficial abnormalities located entirely within (i.e. less than) 5mm of the overlying skin

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: US-DOT (US/NIR) Imaging
  • US-DOT (US/NIR) Imaging Exam
  • Breast biopsy or FNA performed (standard of care)
  • A hand-held hybrid probe will be used for the scans
Device: Hand-held hybrid probe
Consists of a commercially available US transducer located in the middle and near-infrared source and detector optical fibers distributed at the periphery

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Impact of US-guided DOT on the Potential Reduction of Benign Biopsies as Measured by Comparing the Reads With a Non- Suspicious Assessment of Conventional Imaging (CI) Alone Versus CI & US-DOT
Time Frame: Completion of enrollment for all patients (61 months), the imaging session took approximately 1 hour for the participating patient
-BI-RADS scores without and then with optical data will be rendered by study radiologists. Radiologists will be blinded to the biopsy exam and pathology outcomes. Optical data including total Hemoglobin concentration will be provided by the bioengineering team. Benign biopsy reduction will be calculated as the proportion of reads (CI & US-DOT subtract CI) with a non- suspicious assessment, i.e. BIRADS 2 'benign' or BIRADS 3 'probably benign', divided by the denominator of total reads with no cancer demonstrated at biopsy. US-guided core biopsy results and subsequent surgical pathology (if present) will be entered by the study pathologist.
Completion of enrollment for all patients (61 months), the imaging session took approximately 1 hour for the participating patient
Impact of US-guided DOT as an Adjunct to Conventional Breast Imaging on Maintaining High Sensitivity as Measured by Comparing the False Negative Rate or Missing Malignancy of Conventional Imaging (CI=US +/- Mammography) Alone Versus CI & US-DOT
Time Frame: Completion of enrollment for all patients (61 months), the imaging session took approximately 1 hour for the participating patient
-BI-RADS scores without and then with optical data will be rendered by study radiologists. Radiologists will be blinded to the biopsy exam and pathology outcomes. Optical data including total Hemoglobin concentration will be provided by the bioengineering team. The engineering team is also blinded to the biopsy exam and pathology outcomes. The False Negative Rate will be calculated as the proportion of reads with a non-suspicious assessment i.e. BIRADS 2 'benign' or BIRADS 3 'probably benign', who have cancer (defined as Invasive cancer or Ductal Carcinoma In Situ) demonstrated at biopsy divided by the denominator of all reads with cancer. US-guided core biopsy results and subsequent surgical pathology (if present) will be entered by the study pathologist.
Completion of enrollment for all patients (61 months), the imaging session took approximately 1 hour for the participating patient
Assess the Impact of Adjunctive US-guided DOT Data in the Management of Discordant Pathology Results
Time Frame: Completion of enrollment for all patients (61 months), the imaging session took approximately 1 hour for the participating patient
Completion of enrollment for all patients (61 months), the imaging session took approximately 1 hour for the participating patient

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Washington University School of Medicine

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Debbie Bennett, M.D., Washington University School of Medicine

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
March 5, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
July 30, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
July 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
January 29, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
February 12, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
February 15, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
September 26, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 5, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 201707042
  • 1R01CA228047-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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