Science and Technology International (STI) presents a novel multi-modal elastic image registration approach for a new hyperspectral medical imaging modality. STI's HyperSpectral Diagnostic Imaging (HSDI) cervical instrument is used for the early detection of uterine cervical cancer. A Computer-Aided-Diagnostic (CAD) system is being developed to aid the physician with the diagnosis of pre-cancerous and cancerous tissue regions. The CAD system uses the fusion of multiple data sources to optimize its performance. The key enabling technology for the data fusion is image registration. The difficulty lies in the image registration of fluorescence and reflectance hyperspectral data due to the occurrence of soft tissue movement and the limited resemblance of these types of imagery. The presented approach is based on embedding a reflectance image in the fluorescence hyperspectral imagery. Having a reflectance image in both data sets resolves the resemblance problem and thereby enables the use of elastic image registration algorithms required to compensate for soft tissue movements. Several methods of embedding the reflectance image in the fluorescence hyperspectral imagery are described. Initial experiments with human subject data are presented where a reflectance image is embedded in the fluorescence hyperspectral imagery.
An imaging spectrograph, designed and built by Science and Technology International (STI), and a point monitoring system, developed at the Lund Institute of Technology, have been used to measure the fluorescence and reflectance of cervical tissue in vivo. The instruments have been employed in a clinical trial in Vilnius, Lithuania, where 111 patients were examined. Patients were initially screened by Pap smear, examined by colposcopy and a tissue sampling procedure was performed. Detailed histopathological assessments were performed on the biopsies, and these assessments were correlated with spectra and images. The results of the spectroscopic investigations are illustrated by a thorough discussion of a case study for one of the patients, suggesting that the techniques are useful in the management of cervical malignancies.
The use of fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopy in the analysis of cervical histopathology is a growing field of research. The majority of this research is performed with point-like probes. Typically, clinicians select probe sites visually, collecting a handful of spectral samples. An exception to this methodology is the Hyperspectral Diagnostic Imaging (HSDI) instrument developed by Science and Technology International. This non-invasive device collects contiguous hyperspectral images across the entire cervical portio. The high spatial and spectral resolution of the HSDI instruments make them uniquely well suited for addressing the issues of coupled spatial and spectral variability of tissues in vivo. Analysis of HSDI data indicates that tissue spectra vary from point to point, even within histopathologically homogeneous regions. This spectral variability exhibits both random and patterned components, implying that point monitoring may be susceptible to significant sources of noise and clutter inherent in the tissue. We have analyzed HSDI images from clinical CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) patients to quantify the spatial variability of fluorescence and reflectance spectra. This analysis shows the spatial structure of images to be fractal in nature, in both intensity and spectrum. These fractal tissue textures will limit the performance of any point-monitoring technology.
A hyperspectral imaging spectrograph has been used to measure the fluorescence and reflectance of cervical tissue in vivo. The instrument was employed in a clinical trial in Vilnius, Lithuania, where 111 patients were examined. The patients were initially screened by Pap smear, examined by colposcopy and a tissue sampling procedure was performed. Detailed histopathological assessments were performed on the biopsies, and these assessments were correlated with spectra and images. The results of the spectroscopic investigations show that different tissue types within one biopsy region exhibit different spectral signatures. A spectral analysis of the entire image localizes dysplastic regions in both fluorescence and reflectance, suggesting that the hyperspectral imaging technique is useful in the management of cervical malignancies.
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