Mueller matrix imaging for cancer detection

The Mueller matrix completely describes the optical polarization properties of a material. These properties are known to change with size of scatterers, birefringence, and number of scatterers. In cancerous and normal cells and tissues all of the above properties can change and therefore this approach can potentially be used to distinguish between non-cancerous and cancerous tissues. In this paper, an automated Mueller matrix polarization imaging system (AMMPIS) is described that measures the Mueller matrix of a tissue sample. Mueller matrix images of normal, benign mole and cancerous lesions in Sinclair swine are presented along with a statistical analysis showing above 90% sensitivity and specificity for cancer detection with this approach.