Human tissue analysis by small-angle X-ray scattering

Molecular structure of pathologically changed biological tissue differs greatly from the normal one. It gives the opportunity to diagnose different diseases by using methods of structural tissue analysis. The present paper is based on Ultra-Low Angle X-ray (ULAX) coherent scattering data from 1000 paired samples of mammary gland tissue dissected during the surgical treatment from 500 patients with different types of breast tumours (malignant or benign) and tumour-like formations (fibrocystic change). The medical data (histological and histostereometrical analysis) and the digital scattering information have been compared by regression analysis to produce the scattering pattern recognition code that demonstrates the high sensitivity of the ULAX method.