title: Development of an image pre-processor for operational hyperspectral laryngeal cancer detection.
abstract: Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is a technology with high potential in the field of non-invasive detection of cancer. However, in complex imaging situations like HSI of the larynx with a rigid endoscope, various image interferences can disable a proper classification of cancerous tissue. We identified three main problems: i) misregistration of single images in a HS cube due to patient heartbeat ii) image noise and iii) specular reflections (SR). Consequently, an image pre-processor is developed in the current paper to overcome these image interferences. It encompasses i) image registration ii) noise removal by minimum noise fraction (MNF) transformation and iii) a novel SR detection method. The results reveal that the pre-processor improves classification performance, while the newly developed SR detection method outperforms global thresholding technique hitherto used by 46%. The novel pre-processor will be used for future studies towards the development of an operational scheme for HS-based larynx cancer detection. RGB image of the larynx derived from the hyperspectral cube and corresponding specular reflections (a) manually segmented and (b) detected by a novel specular reflection detection method.
authors.affiliation: University of Marburg, Faculty of Geography, Laboratory for Climatology and Remote Sensing, Deutschhausstr. 12, Marburg, Germany. bianca.regeling@geo.uni-marburg.de.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Regeling
authors.affiliation: University of Bonn, Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Wiebke
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Laffers
authors.affiliation: Klinikum Braunschweig, ENT-Clinic, Holwedestr. 16, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas O H
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Gerstner
authors.affiliation: University of Bonn, Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Westermann
authors.affiliation: University of Bonn, Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Nina A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Nemaplot, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: University of Marburg, Faculty of Geography, Laboratory for Climatology and Remote Sensing, Deutschhausstr. 12, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bendix
authors.affiliation: University of Marburg, Faculty of Geography, Laboratory for Climatology and Remote Sensing, Deutschhausstr. 12, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thies
mesh_terms: D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D004724:Endoscopy; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013057:Spectrum Analysis
keywords: endoscopy; hyperspectral imaging; image processing; in-vivo; larynx; specular reflection detection