Optimizing multi-dimensional terahertz imaging analysis for colon cancer diagnosis

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dielectric modelling of human skin and breast tissue in terahertz frequencies : potential application to cancer detection

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.Growing developments in the generation and detection of terahertz (THz) radiation over more than two decades have created a strong incentive for researchers to study the biomedical applications of terahertz imaging. Contrasts in the THz images of various types of cancer, especially skin and breast cancer, are associated with changes in the dielectric properties of cancerous tissues. In fact, dielectric models can explain the interaction between terahertz radiation and human tissue at a molecular level just as their parameters have the potential for becoming indicators of cancer. However, dielectric modelling of various forms of human tissue remains limited due to a number of factors, especially suboptimal fitting algorithms and tissue heterogeneity. Thanks to the high water content of human skin, its dielectric response to terahertz radiation can be described by the double Debye model. The existing fitting method using a nonlinear least square algorithm can extract the model parameters which track their measurements accurately at frequencies higher than one THz but poorly at lower frequencies. However, the majority of dielectric contrast between normal and cancerous skin tissues has been observed in the low THz range. Accordingly, this research has developed two global optimization algorithms which are capable of globally accurate tracking thereby supporting the full validity of the double Debye model in simulating the dielectric spectra of human skin in the THz frequencies. Numerical results confirm their superiority over the conventional methods. Furthermore, the next goal of the study is to apply statistical analysis to the parameters of the double Debye model in order to test their discrimination capability of skin cancer from normal tissue. Linear programming and support vector machine algorithms have also been employed using these parameters to classify normal skin tissue and basal cell carcinoma. By combining the double Debye parameters, the classification accuracy has shown significant improvement. The encouraging outcomes confirm the classification potential of the double Debye parameters. The double Debye model, however, has been shown to be not suitable for simulating human breast tissue due to its low water content and heterogeneous structure, thus limiting the understanding of the THz dielectric response of breast tissue. To overcome this problem, this study proposes a new non-Debye dielectric model to fit the dielectric spectra of human breast tissue. Due to the mathematical complexity of the fitting procedure, a sampling gradient algorithm of non-smooth optimization is used to optimize the fitting solution. Simulation results confirm applicability of the non-Debye model through its exceptional ability to fit the examined data. Statistical measures have also been used to analyse the possibility of using the parameters of this model to differentiate breast tumours from healthy breast tissue. Based on the statistical analysis, popular classification methods such as support vector machines and Bayesian neural network have also been applied to examine these parameters and their combinations for breast cancer classification. The obtained classification accuracies indicate the classification potential of the model parameters as well as highlighting several valuable features of the parameter combinations

Time frequency analysis in terahertz pulsed imaging

Recent advances in laser and electro-optical technologies have made the previously under-utilized terahertz frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum accessible for practical imaging. Applications are emerging, notably in the biomedical domain. In this chapter the technique of terahertz pulsed imaging is introduced in some detail. The need for special computer vision methods, which arises from the use of pulses of radiation and the acquisition of a time series at each pixel, is described. The nature of the data is a challenge since we are interested not only in the frequency composition of the pulses, but also how these differ for different parts of the pulse. Conventional and short-time Fourier transforms and wavelets were used in preliminary experiments on the analysis of terahertz pulsed imaging data. Measurements of refractive index and absorption coefficient were compared, wavelet compression assessed and image classification by multidimensional clustering techniques demonstrated. It is shown that the timefrequency methods perform as well as conventional analysis for determining material properties. Wavelet compression gave results that were robust through compressions that used only 20% of the wavelet coefficients. It is concluded that the time-frequency methods hold great promise for optimizing the extraction of the spectroscopic information contained in each terahertz pulse, for the analysis of more complex signals comprising multiple pulses or from recently introduced acquisition techniques

Medical diagnosis using NIR and THz tissue imaging and machine learning methods

The problem of extracting useful information for medical diagnosis from 2D and 3D optical imaging experimental data is of great importance. We are discussing challenges and perspectives of medical diagnosis using machine learning analysis of NIR and THz tissue imaging. The peculiarities of tissue optical clearing for tissue imaging in NIR and THz spectral ranges aiming the improvement of content data analysis, methods of extracting of informative features from experimental data and creating of prognostic models for medical diagnosis using machine learning methods are discussed

Application of Terahertz Technology in Biomolecular Analysis and Medical Diagnosis

Terahertz technology is a nondestructive technique, which has progressed significantly in the scientific research and gains highly attention in the analysis of biological molecular, cellular, tissues and organs. In this decade, some studies were reported on the application of terahertz technology in medical testing and diagnosis. Here, we summarize the terahertz characters, terahertz spectroscopy, and terahertz imaging technology combined with chemometrics. This chapter focuses on introducing the research progress on analyzing the tissues of cancers using terahertz spectroscopy and terahertz imaging technology. Furthermore, the problems should be solved, and development directions of terahertz spectroscopy and terahertz imaging technology are discussed

Near-infrared parameters extraction: A potential method to detect skin cancer

The wavelength-dependent absorption coefficients can be used to analyse optical properties of human skin. Existing absorption models for narrow ranges in the visible and near infrared are insufficient to simultaneously incorporate the spectral contrast produced by differences in chromophores, water and lipid content of skin tissue into skin cancer detection. In the broad range up to 1600 nm, recent analysis approaches for absorption spectra do not consistently provide significant differences between healthy and cancerous skins. We propose an absorption model to fit the absorption coefficient spectra of skin samples over the range from 400 nm to 1600 nm and an advanced algorithm to find the optimal estimation. The extracted parameters of this model are analysed by a statistical t-test. The test results demonstrate the significant differences between all pairs of tumour-normal skin. Therefore, our approach has strong potential for early skin cancer detection using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). © 2013 IEEE

Modern Applications in Optics and Photonics: From Sensing and Analytics to Communication

Optics and photonics are among the key technologies of the 21st century, and offer potential for novel applications in areas such as sensing and spectroscopy, analytics, monitoring, biomedical imaging/diagnostics, and optical communication technology. The high degree of control over light fields, together with the capabilities of modern processing and integration technology, enables new optical measurement systems with enhanced functionality and sensitivity. They are attractive for a range of applications that were previously inaccessible. This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of some of the most advanced application areas in optics and photonics and indicate the broad potential for the future