title: Polarized near-infrared autofluorescence imaging combined with near-infrared diffuse reflectance imaging for improving colonic cancer detection.
abstract: We evaluate the diagnostic feasibility of the integrated polarized near-infrared (NIR) autofluorescence (AF) and NIR diffuse reflectance (DR) imaging technique developed for colonic cancer detection. A total of 48 paired colonic tissue specimens (normal vs. cancer) were measured using the integrated NIR DR (850-1100 nm) and NIR AF imaging at the 785 nm laser excitation. The results showed that NIR AF intensities of cancer tissues are significantly lower than those of normal tissues (p<0.001, paired 2-sided Student's t-test, n=48). NIR AF imaging under polarization conditions gives a higher diagnostic accuracy (of ~92-94%) compared to non-polarized NIR AF imaging or NIR DR imaging. Further, the ratio imaging of NIR DR to NIR AF with polarization provides the best diagnostic accuracy (of ~96%) among the NIR AF and NIR DR imaging techniques. This work suggests that the integrated NIR AF/DR imaging under polarization condition has the potential to improve the early diagnosis and detection of malignant lesions in the colon.
authors.affiliation: Optical Bioimaging Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, 117576 Singapore.
authors.forename: Xiaozhuo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D004058:Diffusion; D005260:Female; D005454:Fluorescence Polarization; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged