In-vivo Confocal Spectropolarimetric Imaging

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of the research proposed here is to develop and apply an in-vivo spectral optical imaging technique called confocal polarimetric imaging for the diagnosis of human skin lesions. The broader objectives include correlating the pathology of skin lesions to the acquired imagery and ultimately improving clinicians' diagnostic capabilities for skin lesions and their margins. The research is aimed at improving the diagnosis specificity of benign versus. (pre)malignant lesions and improving classification capabilities to preclude unwarranted invasive procedures such as biopsy and excision. Specific aims of the research include the design, construction, calibration, testing, and validation of a multimodality imager, coupled with a limited preliminary clinical trial to assess the technique's merit. It is expected that the high contrast imaging capabilities of confocal microscopy coupled with the morphologically sensitive technique of spectropolarimetric imaging will yield a more informative data cube that may be exploited for lesion discrimination purposes. In conjunction with a dermatologist and dermatopathologist, the device will be used to image skin lesions and the results correlated to clinical diagnoses and dermatopathology findings to assess its usefulness. The approach is expected to concurrently exploit the known advantages of the component imaging techniques to yield more informative architectural information about skin lesions, permitting improved in-vivo diagnostic capabilities vis- -vis traditional imaging approaches.