Diagnosing different types of skin carcinoma based on their optical properties: A Monte-Carlo implementation

Abstract

Skin cancer is a very common and serious type of cancers worldwide. Among many kinds of non-melanoma skin cancers, Basel Cell and Squamous Cell Carcinoma are highly treatable in case of early detection. Various Diagnosing techniques are employed to detect skin cancer, such as dermoscopy, OCT, biopsy and physical examination according to the medical case. However, the non-invasive optical methods are gaining validity due to their competitive advantages including safety and functionality. In addition, they are painless and high sensitive to the examined tissue metabolic changes. The propagation of light in any biological tissue is controlled be its optical absorption and scattering properties that highly depend on the wavelength of the utilized light. Monte-Carlo simulation is a forward numerical method used to describe light propagation in biological tissues depending on their optical parameters. In this work, Monte-Carlo simulation method was implemented to characterize the light propagation in normal dermis, Infiltrative Basal Cell Carcinoma, Nodular Basal Cell Carcinoma, and Squamous Cell Carcinomas in order to differentiate healthy from cancerous tissues. The obtained results provided information about the amount of light reflectance, transmittance, absorbed fraction and fluence rate distribution in the examined tissues showing different values at each condition over a wide range of wavelengths, which provide a simple, safe and functional tool for diagnosing these categories of skin carcinoma.