Toward noninvasive precision: a meta-analysis of photoacoustic spectroscopy in breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common lethal cancers in the world. Standard diagnostic methods, particularly tissue biopsies, are invasive and often fail to detect tumor heterogeneity, leading to suboptimal treatment outcomes. This study aims to assess and evaluate the potential of photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) as noninvasive technologies that replace conventional methods for diagnosing breast cancer with increased depth of tissue penetration, improved resolution, and molecular sensitivity. This meta-analysis introduces the principal advantages and limitations of the PAI and PAS technologies. It applies a statistical approach to assess diagnostic performance, sensitivity, and specificity in preclinical and experimental settings. Data from six relevant studies on PAS for breast cancer screening were summarized. The analysis revealed a pooled sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 96% to assess the diagnostic performance of the PAS/PAI technologies. The estimate of pooled logit-transformed diagnostic performance was 0.72 (95% CI: 0.71–0.72), equivalent to 84% pooled sensitivity and 96% specificity. The logit value reflects variance-stabilized analysis and cannot be interpreted as uncorrected diagnostic accuracy, and the average heterogeneity across studies was moderate (I² = 51.0%). These results highlight the potential of the PAI and PAS as reliable and noninvasive diagnostic instruments with the ability for early detection as well as improved patient outcomes.