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Constructing a portable optical polarimetry probe for in-vivo skin cancer detection
- Source :
- Journal of Biomedical Optics
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Significance: Management of skin cancer worldwide is often a challenge of scale, in that the number of potential cases presented outweighs the resources available to detect and treat skin cancer. Aim: This project aims to develop a polarimetry probe to create an accessible skin cancer detection tool. Approach: An optical probe was developed to perform bulk tissue Stokes polarimetry, a technique in which a laser of known polarization illuminates a target, and the altered polarization state of the backscattered light is measured. Typically, measuring a polarization state requires four sequential measurements with different orientations of polarization filters; however, this probe contains four spatially separated detectors to take four measurements in one shot. The probe was designed to perform at a lower cost and higher speed than conventional polarimetry methods. The probe uses photodiodes and linear and circular film polarizing filters as detectors, and a low-coherence laser diode as its illumination source. The probe design takes advantage of the statistical uniformity of the polarization speckle field formed at the detection area. Results: Tests of each probe component, and the complete system put together, were performed to evaluate error and confirm the probe’s performance despite its low-cost components. This probe’s potential is demonstrated in a pilot clinical study on 71 skin lesions. The degree of polarization was found to be a factor by which malignant melanoma could be separated from other types of skin lesions.
- Subjects :
- Paper
Materials science
Skin Neoplasms
Light
Biomedical Engineering
Polarimetry
02 engineering and technology
Polarizing filter
01 natural sciences
law.invention
Semiconductor laser theory
010309 optics
Biomaterials
Speckle pattern
symbols.namesake
Optics
Stokes vector
law
0103 physical sciences
Stokes parameters
Humans
General
Melanoma
Skin
polarimetry
skin cancer
business.industry
Spectrum Analysis
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Laser
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
coherence length
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Photodiode
symbols
Degree of polarization
low-resource setting
speckle
0210 nano-technology
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15602281
- Volume :
- 26
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of biomedical optics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....fe07ab717184931a127d59d9811d2488