SignificancePreterm birth is defined as a birth before 37 weeks of gestation and is one of the leading contributors to infant mortality rates globally. Premature birth can lead to life-long developmental impairment for the child. Unfortunately, there is a significant lack of tools to diagnose preterm birth risk, which limits patient care and the development of new therapies.AimTo develop a speculum-free, portable preterm imaging system (PPRIM) for cervical imaging; testing of the PPRIM system to resolve polarization properties of birefringent samples; and testing of the PPRIM under an IRB on healthy, non-pregnant volunteers for visualization and polarization analysis of cervical images.ApproachThe PPRIM can perform 4×3 Mueller-matrix imaging to characterize the remodeling of the uterine cervix during pregnancy. The PPRIM is built with a polarized imaging probe and a flexible insertable sheath made with a compatible flexible rubber-like material to maximize comfort and ease of use.ResultsThe PPRIM device is developed to meet specific design specifications as a speculum-free, portable, and comfortable imaging system with polarized imaging capabilities. This system comprises a main imaging component and a flexible silicone inserter. The inserter is designed to maximize comfort and usability for the patient. The PPRIM shows high-resolution imaging capabilities at the 20 mm working distance and 25 mm circular field of view. The PPRIM demonstrates the ability to resolve birefringent sample orientation and full field capture of a healthy, non-pregnant cervix.ConclusionThe development of the PPRIM aims to improve access to the standard of care for women’s reproductive health using polarized Mueller-matrix imaging of the cervix and reduce infant and maternal mortality rates and better quality of life.
Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as any birth prior to 37 weeks of gestation. Preterm birth contributes to 35% of 3.1 million neonatal deaths annually. There is a critical absence of clinical tools for diagnosis of preterm birth risk. We have proposed the use of Mueller Matrix Imaging (MMI) as a sensitive tool to monitor the atypical remodeling of collagen occurring in PTB. Here we expand our previous work to demonstrate that a Portable PReterm IMaging System capable of 3x4 MMI can be used at the point of care. It consists of a sheath insertable in the vaginal canal combined with a polarized imaging system. The main PPRIM body consists of a camera with integrated polarizers combined with a custom-made LED ring illuminator. The optical layout consists of a reverse telephoto lens suitable for imaging at long front working distance. Angle of incidence of the optical elements are minimized to reduce the sensitivity to misalignment and polarization aberrations. The system has a field of view of approximately 25 x 25 mm2 at 20 mm working distance. PPRIM is controlled by a laptop computer and custom software. To demonstrate the feasibility of the device, imaging tests were performed on a Gynecologic Skills Trainer as well as healthy volunteers.
Significance: Mueller matrix polarimetry can provide useful information about the function and structure of the extracellular matrix. A portable and low-cost system could facilitate the clinical assessment of cervical anomalies in low-resource settings.
Aim: We introduce a low-cost snapshot Mueller matrix polarimeter that does not require external power, has no moving parts, and can acquire a full Mueller matrix in ∼1 s, to conduct a feasibility study for cervical imaging in the low-resource setting.
Approach: A snapshot system based on two sets of Savart plates, a ring illuminator with polarizing elements (generating four polarization states), and one camera is introduced. Stokes vectors are formulated to recover the polarization properties of the sample. Then, using Mueller matrix decomposition, the depolarization and retardance information is extracted.
Results: We report the results on 16 healthy individuals (out of 22 patients imaged), whose Pap smear showed no malignant findings from mobile clinics in rural region of Mysore, India. The depolarization and retardance information was in agreement with previous reports.
Conclusions: We introduce an imaging system and conducted a feasibility study on healthy individuals. This work could futurely translate into diagnostic applications to provide a quantitative platform in the clinical environment (e.g., cervical cancer screening).
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide, with an estimated half a million new cases and 260,000 deaths each year. Developing countries bear about 84% of the global burden of the disease and 80% of the mortality due to a lack of effective screening programs. Cytology-based screening used in industrial countries is both expensive and difficult to implement in lower income countries with poor healthcare infrastructure and a shortage of pathologists.
Low-cost optical technologies have been introduced in the low resource setting but to this date they are either hard to use single point measurements or require expert pathologist for image interpretation.
Mueller Matrix imaging (MMI) is a novel imaging modality that uses polarized light to highlight subtle changes in cervical collagen structure typical of early stage cervical cancer. Recent ex-vivo work has shown that MMI is capable of up to 83% sensitivity and specificity in separating Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia stages. Unfortunately, the methodology requires a costly clinical colposcope with high encumbrance and low portability.
We have developed a low cost portable Mueller Matrix imaging colposcope based on Savart platesthat can be deployed in a low resource setting and used by lay personnel.
The device was used in the evaluation of cervical cancer risk in a pilot study of twenty-two volunteers in Mysore, India. The Papanicolaou test was used as a gold standard to in the validation of the polarimetric findings. Acceptability of the device by the patients was also ascertained.
The development of a low cost and easy to use imaging system for the diagnosis of cervical cancer could be life changing for many women with poor or no access to specialized health care worldwide.
Mueller Matrix polarimetry can provide useful information about the function and structure of the extracellular matrix. Mueller Matrix systems are sophisticated and costly optical tools that have been used primarily in the laboratory or in hospital settings. Here we introduce a low-cost snapshot Mueller Matrix polarimeter that that does not require external power, has no moving parts, and can acquire a full Mueller Matrix in less than 50 milliseconds. We utilized this technology in the study of cervical cancer in Mysore India, yet the system could be translated in multiple diagnostic applications.
We demonstrate a novel spectral imaging device based on an imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) with phase
delays electro-optically controlled by fast tuning liquid crystal (LC) elements. The electro-optic (EO) tunable
multispectral/hyperspectral imaging give the spectral imager significant advantages, including reduction in size and mass
for simultaneous 2D spectral imaging, with a high spatial and spectral resolution. The technology is made very attractive
for its potential military, medical and remote sensing applications where hyperspectral imaging plays a significant role in
detection.
We demonstrate a new material composed of isotropic liquid crystal (ILC) blended with semiconductor nanoparticles,
which could result in a novel high-speed, multiple-notch broadband passive optical switch to selectively discriminate
bands of electromagnetic radiation in intelligence, surveillance, or reconnaissance systems. The new material has been
demonstrated high nonlinear 3rd order optical Kerr coefficients (light-induced refractive index change, n2) exceeding 100
times of classic nonlinear material CS2 with n2 = 1.2E-11 esu. Details of fabrication and experimental results are
presented.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.