Corona Discharge Photography of Human Breast Tumour Biopsies

Abstract

Corona discharge photography of human breast carcinoma biopsies was directly compared with normal adjacent breast tissue from the same patient by photographing the samples simultaneously with a split grounding electrode. Samples were immersed in saline and adjusted to the same weight to ensure identical conditions and to eliminate moisture and pressure artifacts. Tumour samples always showed an increased corona discharge intensity and contained characteristic regions of high intensity light as compared with normal tissue. The technique may therefore be useful as a new non-invasive diagnostic technique for early detection of surface tumours. The results are discussed in terms of a possible contribution of ultra-weak photon emission since this technique gives similar results to those reported here.