Multimodal imaging for nonmelanoma skin cancer margin delineation
Fan, B. ; Neel, V. A. ; Yaroslavsky, A. N.
Abstract
Background and Objective
Nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is the most common form of cancer worldwide. The most effective form of treating this cancer is its surgical removal. As NMSC rarely metastasize, its complete excision is often curative. We investigated the potential of combining Terahertz Pulsed Imaging (TPI) with polarization enhanced reflectance optical imaging for the accurate intraoperative delineation of NMSC.
Materials and Methods
Fresh thick samples with residual cancer were obtained from surgeries. The samples were imaged within two hours using polarization optical and TPI systems without remounting. Analysis of the TPI results was performed in the frequency domain. Co‐ and cross‐polarized optical images were acquired at 410 nm. Superficial optical images were obtained by subtracting cross‐polarized from the respective co‐polarized images. Terahertz, optical, and histological images were overlaid and compared.