Polarised stereo endoscope and narrowband detection for minimal access surgery

Abstract

Polarisation imaging has the potential to provide enhanced contrast based on variations in the optical properties, such as scattering or birefringence, of the tissue of interest. Examining the signal at different wavebands in the visible spectrum also allows interrogation of different depths and structures. A stereo endoscope has been adapted to allow snapshot acquisition of orthogonal linear polarisation images to generate difference of linear polarisation images. These images are acquired in three narrow bands using a triple-bandpass filter and pair of colour cameras. The first in vivo results, acquired during a surgical procedure on a porcine subject, are presented that show wavelength dependent variations in vessel visibility and an increase in contrast under polarised detection.

Characterizing microstructures of cancerous tissues using multispectral transformed Mueller matrix polarization parameters

“…In the past decades many attempts have been made for clinical diagnosis applications using simple polarization parameters such as the degree of polarization (DOP) [5,6] and difference polarization (DP) [7]. Some of the linear polarization imaging methods have even been combined with endoscopes for in vivo diagnostic purposes [8,9]. Since a Mueller matrix provides a comprehensive characterization of the polarization properties and contains abundant microstructural and optical information of the sample, imaging methods based on Mueller matrix polarimetry are becoming increasingly attractive for differentiating the pathological structural features of biological samples, such as different types of cancers at different stages [10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Mueller matrix microscope: a quantitative tool to facilitate detections and fibrosis scorings of liver cirrhosis and cancer tissues

“…[1][2][3] Polarization imaging methods have the ability to measure the microstructural information nondestructively in tissues, cells, and other specimens. 4,5 Polarization techniques can especially help suppress the multiscattered photons from deep tissues, and thus improve the imaging contrast of superficial layers of samples.…”

Division of focal plane polarimeter-based 3 × 4 Mueller matrix microscope: a potential tool for quick diagnosis of human carcinoma tissues

“…Recently, polarization imaging techniques have been used as potential tools for biomedical diagnosis, such as the detection of abnormal tissues in skin, 17,18 liver, 19,20 esophagus, 21 colon, 22,23 cervix, 24 bladder, 25 and so on. [26][27][28] Nowadays, the cancer incidence is growing fast worldwide, making pathological diagnoses time-consuming.…”