Study of Trace Elements Fluorescence to identify the presence of breast cancer.

Author(s)

Marina Piacenti da Silva

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Ribeirão Preto.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC)
• Defense date: 2007-03-16

Examining board members

Martin Eduardo Poletti; Carlos Alberto Perez; Orgheda Luiza Araujo Domingues Zucchi

• Advisor: Martin Eduardo Poletti

Abstract

One of the major causes of the elevated rate of mortality in the whole world is related with the neoplasies in tissues. Particularly, the breast cancer is the second type of this disease that more reaches women in Brazil. Early diagnosis certainly can reduce the death risk in people with this type of disease and the treatment and prevention are certainly the great challenge found by medicine today. At present, it comes appearing a new diagnostic tool, based in the study of some chemical elements that are in small amount in the organism, known as trace elements. These elements, responsible for some biological functions, can be in different concentrations in healthy and neoplasics tissues that can indicate histopatological changes of breast cancer tissues, and become possible the identification of each type of neoplasies. In this way, the study and determination of trace elements in neoplastic tissues, the aim of this work, can be a new area of interest, mainly for the possibility to offer diagnostic information, improving its efficiency and in consequence, to improve the prognostic of the patient. In this work, using X-ray Fluorescence technique with polienergetic and monoenergetic beams, we determined the concentrations of the trace elements in healthy and neoplastic breast tissues. A total of 101 samples of healthy, neoplastic and adjacent normal tissues to neoplasies had been studied. The corrections for the matrix effect had been carried through by the method of external standard and by the method of scattered radiation for polienergetic and monoenergetic beams respectively. Results showed that all the analyzed elements are in raised levels in the neoplastic tissues in relation to the normal ones. In procedures with polienergetic beam significant differences between the concentrations of the elements copper and zinc had been verified between normal and neoplastic tissues of paired samples (p < 0,005) and independent samples (p < 0.001). With monoenergetic beam, concentrations of all elements (Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn) in healthy and neoplastic tissues of paired and independent samples showed significant differences (all with p < 0.001). For concentrations of the elements calcium and zinc significant differences between benign and malignant neoplastic tissues had been observed (0.001 p < and p < 0,002 respectively). The quantification of concentrations of trace elements in normal and neoplastic tissues can, therefore, support with precision the breast cancer diagnosis. (AU)