Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers among the global women population. It is due to the development of malignant cells in the breast tissue based on external or internal causes. The stages of detecting breast cancer include screening, diagnosis, and prognosis. Multiple imaging modalities, including digital Mammography, Ultrasonography, breast MRI, CT scan, and PET are applied for screening, diagnosis, identifying the stage of the tumor, classifying the developmental trend of the disease, and monitoring the treatment response. These modalities are commonly used in most fields of medicine, and have their merits and drawbacks. There are some optical technologies which have been developed in the diagnostic field. Optical imaging, and spectroscopy are known as real-time, sensitive, and non-invasive detecting approaches for human cancers in inaccessible locations, which use light propagation through the tissue to assess the optical properties. Optical techniques are used to measure optical and physiological properties of healthy breast tissue to discriminate abnormalities. Optical spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy are some of the technologies for breast cancer detection. Such technologies can be combined with other modalities based on the capability of light guidance using optical fibers. Moreover, optical imaging offers potency for image-guided surgery. We review and discuss the broad range of methodologies and applications. Through a brief review of breast physiology, we discuss the various instrumental techniques and the related methods of optical spectroscopy and data analysis.

乳腺癌是全球女性中最常见的癌症之一。这是由于外部或内部原因导致乳腺组织中恶性细胞的发展。乳腺癌检测的阶段包括筛查、诊断和预后。数字乳腺X线摄影、超声检查、乳腺MRI、CT扫描和PET等多种成像模式用于筛查、诊断、确定肿瘤分期、对疾病发展趋势进行分类和监测治疗反应。这些方式普遍用于大多数医学领域，并且各有优点和缺点。诊断领域已经开发了一些光学技术。光学成像和光谱学被称为实时、灵敏和非侵入性的检测方法，用于检测难以到达的位置的人类癌症，它们利用光在组织中的传播来评估光学特性。光学技术用于测量健康乳腺组织的光学和生理特性，以区分异常情况。光谱法和荧光光谱法是乳腺癌检测的一些技术。这些技术可以与基于光纤光导能力的其他模式相结合。此外，光学成像为图像引导手术提供了潜力。我们回顾并讨论广泛的方法和应用。通过对乳腺生理学的简要回顾，我们讨论了各种仪器技术以及光谱学和数据分析的相关方法。