title: Low-coherence enhanced backscattering: review of principles and applications for colon cancer screening.
abstract: The phenomenon of enhanced backscattering (EBS) of light, also known as coherent backscattering (CBS) of light, has been the object of intensive investigation in nonbiological media over the last two decades. However, there have been only a few attempts to explore EBS for tissue characterization and diagnosis. We have recently made progress in the EBS measurements in tissue by taking advantage of low spatial coherence illumination, which has led us to the development of low-coherence enhanced backscattering (LEBS) spectroscopy. In this work, we review the current state of research on LEBS. After a brief discussion of the basic principle of EBS and LEBS, we present an overview of the unique features of LEBS for tissue characterization, and show that LEBS enables depth-selective spectroscopic assessment of mucosal tissue. Then, we demonstrate the potential of LEBS spectroscopy for predicting the risk of colon carcinogenesis and colonoscopy-free screening for colorectal cancer (CRC).
authors.affiliation: Northwestern University, Biomedical Engineering Department, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA. younglae@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Young L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Vladimir M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Turzhitsky
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hemant K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Ramesh K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Wali
authors.forename: Hariharan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.forename: Prabhakar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pradhan
authors.forename: Vadim
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Backman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*