title: Polarimetric imaging of uterine cervix: a case study.
abstract: We present a preliminary investigation of macroscopic polarimetric imaging of uterine cervix. Orthogonal state contrast (OSC) images of healthy and anomalous cervices have been taken in vivo at 550 nm. Four ex vivo cervix samples have been studied in full Muller polarimetry, at 550 nm and 700 nm, and characterized in detail by standard pathology. One sample was totally healthy, another one carried CIN lesions at very early stage (CIN1) in its visible exocervical region, while for the other two samples more advanced (CIN3) lesions were present, together with visible glandular epithelium (ectropion). Significant birefringence has been observed in the healthy regions of all six samples, both in vivo and ex vivo. Standard treatments of the Mueller images of the ex vivo samples allowed to quantify both retardation and depolarization. Retardation reached 60° in healthy regions, and disappeared in the anomalous regions of the other three ex vivo samples. The depolarization power was largest in healthy regions, and lower in CINs and ectropion. Possible origins of the observed effects are briefly discussed.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Interfaces et des Couches Minces (LPICM), Ecole polytechnique, CNRS, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pierangelo
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nazac
authors.forename: Abdelali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benali
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Validire
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Novikova
authors.forename: Bicher Haj
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manhas
authors.forename: Clément
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fallet
authors.forename: Maria-Rosaria
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Antonelli
authors.forename: Antonello-De
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Martino
mesh_terms: D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057109:Scanning Laser Polarimetry / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*