Constructing a portable optical polarimetry probe for in-vivo skin cancer detection.

Daniel C Louie,Sunil Kalia,Harvey Lui,Lioudmila Tchvialeva,Tim Lee

doi:10.1117/1.jbo.26.3.035001

Daniel C Louie, Sunil Kalia + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jbo.26.3.035001

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Abstract

.Significance: Management of skin cancer worldwide is often a challenge of scale, in that the number of potential cases presented outweighs the resources available to detect and treat skin cancer.Aim: This project aims to develop a polarimetry probe to create an accessible skin cancer detection tool.Approach: An optical probe was developed to perform bulk tissue Stokes polarimetry, a technique in which a laser of known polarization illuminates a target, and the altered polarization state of the backscattered light is measured. Typically, measuring a polarization state requires four sequential measurements with different orientations of polarization filters; however, this probe contains four spatially separated detectors to take four measurements in one shot. The probe was designed to perform at a lower cost and higher speed than conventional polarimetry methods. The probe uses photodiodes and linear and circular film polarizing filters as detectors, and a low-coherence laser diode as its illumination source. The probe design takes advantage of the statistical uniformity of the polarization speckle field formed at the detection area.Results: Tests of each probe component, and the complete system put together, were performed to evaluate error and confirm the probe’s performance despite its low-cost components. This probe’s potential is demonstrated in a pilot clinical study on 71 skin lesions. The degree of polarization was found to be a factor by which malignant melanoma could be separated from other types of skin lesions.

Highlights

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer and has had an increasing incidence in recent years.[1]
Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer, but its mortality rate decreases significantly if a lesion is treated in its earliest stages.[2]
We report an innovative design of a fast and portable Stokes polarimetry probe that measures the depolarization of partially coherent light backscattered from skin

Summary

Introduction

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer and has had an increasing incidence in recent years.[1]. Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer, but its mortality rate decreases significantly if a lesion is treated in its earliest stages.[2] Technological assistance for skin cancer diagnosis has been an active field of research. These efforts focus on non-invasive methods, meant to assist practitioners in determining whether a lesion should be biopsied. Polarization is the oscillation orientation of the electrical vector of a propagating light wave. This is generally an elliptical state that includes linear and circular components.

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