Wearable Imaging Innovation Brings New Hope for Breast Cancer Detection

By Office of the President | Sep 23, 2025

Research at Downstate is propelling fNIRS toward use as a widely accessible diagnostic technology. Led by Randall Barbour, Ph.D., professor of pathology and principal investigator of the Optical Tomography Group, investigators recently published findings in PLOS One (“Hemoglobin state-flux: A finite-state model representation of the hemoglobin signal for evaluation of the resting state and the influence of disease”) that mark a significant step forward.

Their work demonstrates that functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) can effectively detect abnormalities in breast tissue, underscoring its promise as a cost-effective, patient-friendly tool with broad applications in clinical medicine.

To date, fNIRS (pronounced f-nears) has been effective as a neuroimaging tool; however, its use with other types of tissue has been limited due to the absence of a mathematical framework that makes dense tissue data easier to interpret.  Barbour’s demonstrates in his article that by analyzing differences in hemoglobin signals between diseased and healthy breast tissue and creating a responsive analysis system, fNIRS imaging can reliably identify the presence of tumor pathology.

Dr. Barbour explains that the overarching goal is to identify the most effective methods for evaluating tissue to generate meaningful insights into disease. While this study focused specifically on detecting breast cancer, the broader aim is to establish a foundational strategy to support wider fNIRS technology applications.

His approach centers on creating a sensing tool that treats patients holistically while delivering accuracy equal to or greater than current methods. In breast cancer detection, mammograms and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) each provide critical insights. Still, both have limitations—MRIs are costly and require specialized facilities, while mammograms can cause procedural discomfort.

To address these challenges, Dr. Barbour is developing a wearable fNIRS device that is clinically effective, affordable, compact, portable, lightweight, and comfortable. Designed in the form of a brassiere, the pilot device measures breast tissue while patients remain seated, eliminating the need for compression during the exam.

Dr. Barbour and his team were the first to demonstrate that simple resting-state measures can offer strong diagnostic potential. In the near term, fNIRS breast studies could be used as a confirmatory tool to reduce false positives, monitor responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and improve disease detection and differentiation.

In the long term, the aim is to develop affordable, office-ready fNIRS technologies that enable clinicians to assess tissue abnormalities quickly and accurately and determine when more advanced testing is necessary. This work also considers the complexities of tumor size, type, location, and blood flow regulation within the breast.

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The application of fNIRS for detecting and monitoring breast cancer is one of many potential clinical uses of this technology pioneered by Dr. Barbour. Additional details about Dr. Barbour’s research and the imaging studies conducted by the SUNY Downstate Optical Tomography Group are available at https://nirx.net/ and http://otg.downstate.edu/index.htm. Dr. Barbour’s company, NIRx, has offices in New York, Berlin, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis, with his primary research base maintained at Downstate’s Biotechnology Incubator.

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Grant No. R41CA096102; the U.S. Army, Grant No. DAMD017-03-C-0018; Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Grant No. IMG0403022; the New York State Department of Health, Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program; the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation—Technology Transfer Incentive Program (NYSTAR-TTIP), Grant No. C020041; and NIRx Medical Technologies.

Tags: Research