Concurrent Reflectance Confocal Microscopy and Laser Doppler Flowmetry to Improve Skin Cancer Imaging: A Monte Carlo Model and Experimental Validation

Sensors

Tarl W. Prow¹  H. Peter Soyer¹  Alireza Mowla²  Stephen J. Wilson²  Aleksandar D. Rakić²  Yah Leng Lim²  Karl Bertling²  Thomas Taimre³ 

[1] Dermatology Research Centre, The University of Queensland, School of Medicine, Translational Research Institute, Brisbane 4102, Australia;School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia;School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia;

关键词: skin cancer detection;    Monte Carlo modelling;    laser feedback interferometry;    reflectance confocal microscopy;    laser Doppler flowmetry;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s16091411

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Optical interrogation of suspicious skin lesions is standard care in the management of skin cancer worldwide. Morphological and functional markers of malignancy are often combined to improve expert human diagnostic power. We propose the evaluation of the combination of two independent optical biomarkers of skin tumours concurrently. The morphological modality of reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is combined with the functional modality of laser Doppler flowmetry, which is capable of quantifying tissue perfusion. To realize the idea, we propose laser feedback interferometry as an implementation of RCM, which is able to detect the Doppler signal in addition to the confocal reflectance signal. Based on the proposed technique, we study numerical models of skin tissue incorporating two optical biomarkers of malignancy: (i) abnormal red blood cell velocities and concentrations and (ii) anomalous optical properties manifested through tissue confocal reflectance, using Monte Carlo simulation. We also conduct a laboratory experiment on a microfluidic channel containing a dynamic turbid medium, to validate the efficacy of the technique. We quantify the performance of the technique by examining a signal to background ratio (SBR) in both the numerical and experimental models, and it is shown that both simulated and experimental SBRs improve consistently using this technique. This work indicates the feasibility of an optical instrument, which may have a role in enhanced imaging of skin malignancies.

【 授权许可】

Unknown