A non-invasive diffuse reflectance optical spectroscopic imaging system to characterize tissue

Optical Imaging i.e., medical imaging with light radiation is gaining importance especially for early detection of cancer. The functional state of tissue can influence its optical properties. Functional optical imaging capitalizes on the changing optical properties of tissue by using light to measure physiological changes. The basis for this imaging method arise from the differences in the spectra obtained from the normal and diseased tissue owing to the multiple physiological change associated with increased vasculature, cellularity, oxygen consumption and edema in tumour. The proposed non-invasive technique can distinguish healthy from pathological tissue based on their microscopic morphology and the variations in their diffuse reflectance spectra. This measurement allows quantitative assessment of certain physiological parameters which leads to non-invasive cancer diagnosis. An optical fiber spectroscopic imaging system is set up for this purpose, which is safe, portable and very affordable relative to other imaging modalities. The method involves exposure of skin surface to white light produced by an incandescent source. The back scattered photons emerging from various layers of tissue are detected by spectrometer resulting in tissue surface emission profile. The spectral data from the scan is processed using a suitable algorithm to form an image which can directly assist us in differentiating the part which is affected by cancer visually. The merging of spectroscopy and imaging enables the quantifying of cellular states.