Polarization-based optical interference approach for differential diagnosis of benign and malignant tumours

Abstract

The polarization-based optical interference approach is expanded for an express differentiation between prostate adenocarcinoma with different grades and Gleason scores. The approach is founded on evaluation of local contrast of polarized interference patterns originated by a superposition of reference laser beam and interference of light transmitted through the tissue sample placed in the image plane. The observed polarization-based optical interference patterns are linked directly to the morphology of the biological tissue under investigation. The polarization patterns obtained for three sets of histological sections of the prostate tumour biopsy samples are further processed with the statistical moments of 1st to 4th order. The developed approach is implemented for assessment of histological sections of the prostate tumour tissues with high, moderately and poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. The application of the developed polarization-based optical interference approach demonstrates a high (>90%) level of accuracy.