Characterizing microstructural features of breast carcinoma tissues in different progression stages by transformed Mueller matrix parameters

Abstract

Polarization imaging is a promising technique for probing the anisotropic fibrous components in tissues. Among the polarization techniques, Mueller matrix imaging can be used as a non-invasive method to provide comprehensive descriptions on the properties of tissues. Especially, Mueller matrix polarimetry can help to improve the image contrast of the superficial layers of tissues by eliminating multiply scattered photons from the deep layers. Thus, it has great potential in detecting cancerous tissues at an early stage. Recently, we developed a Mueller matrix microscope by adding the polarization state generator and analyzer to a commercial transmission-light microscope, and preliminarily applied it to differentiate various pathological tissue samples. Here we apply the microscopic transformed Mueller matrix parameters - the Mueller matrix polar decomposition (MMPD) and Mueller matrix transformation (MMT) parameters, for quantitative detection of human breast ductal carcinoma, which is a primary form of breast cancers, at different stages. The images of MMT and MMPD parameters for breast ductal carcinoma tissues in different regions at in situ and invasive stages are analyzed. The experimental results demonstrate that the transformed Mueller matrix parameters can be used as quantitative indicators for diagnosis of breast ductal carcinoma tissues at different progression stages.