Out-of-plane Stokes imaging polarimeter for early skin cancer diagnosis

Optimal treatment of skin cancer before it metastasizes critically depends on early diagnosis and treatment. Imaging spectroscopy and polarized remittance have been utilized in the past for diagnostic purposes, but valuable information can be also obtained from the analysis of skin roughness. For th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Biomedical Optics 2012-07, Vol.17 (7), p.076014-1-076014-3
Main Authors: Ghassemi, Pejhman, Lemaillet, Paul, Germer, Thomas A, Shupp, Jeffrey W, Venna, Suraj S, Boisvert, Marc E, Flanagan, Katherine E, Jordan, Marion H, Ramella-Roman, Jessica C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Azimuth
benign nevi
Diagnosis
Early Diagnosis
Equipment Design
Equipment Failure Analysis
Humans
Imaging polarimeters
melanocytic nevus
melanoma
Patients
Polarization
Reproducibility of Results
Research Papers: Imaging
rough surface scattering
Roughness
Scanning Laser Polarimetry - instrumentation
Scanning Laser Polarimetry - methods
Scattering
Sensitivity and Specificity
Separation
Skin Neoplasms - pathology
Spectrum Analysis, Raman - instrumentation
Spectrum Analysis, Raman - methods
Stokes imaging polarimeter
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Summary:Optimal treatment of skin cancer before it metastasizes critically depends on early diagnosis and treatment. Imaging spectroscopy and polarized remittance have been utilized in the past for diagnostic purposes, but valuable information can be also obtained from the analysis of skin roughness. For this purpose, we have developed an out-of-plane hemispherical Stokes imaging polarimeter designed to monitor potential skin neoplasia based on a roughness assessment of the epidermis. The system was utilized to study the rough surface scattering for wax samples and human skin. The scattering by rough skin-simulating phantoms showed behavior that is reasonably described by a facet scattering model. Clinical tests were conducted on patients grouped as follows: benign nevi, melanocytic nevus, melanoma, and normal skin. Images were captured and analyzed, and polarization properties are presented in terms of the principal angle of the polarization ellipse and the degree of polarization. In the former case, there is separation between different groups of patients for some incidence azimuth angles. In the latter, separation between different skin samples for various incidence azimuth angles is observed.
ISSN:1083-3668
1560-2281
DOI:10.1117/1.JBO.17.7.076014