Multimodal Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging for improving Cancer Detection in the Head and Neck at Endoscopy

Abstract

Early diagnosis and localization of head and neck cancers with effective treatment is critical to decreasing the mortality rates. But identification of early cancer can be difficult by using the conventional white-light reflectance imaging which heavily relies on visualization of tissue gross morphological changes associated with neoplastic transformation. Optical spectroscopic techniques, such as autofluorescence spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, which provide the information about tissue optical properties, morphologic structures, endogenous fluorophore distribution, blood content and oxygenation, have been comprehensively investigated for in vitro or in vivo precancer and cancer diagnosis with high diagnostic sensitivity. Raman spectroscopy is an optical vibrational technique capable of providing specific information about biochemical compositions and structures of tissue, which has excelled in the early cancer detection with high diagnostic specificity. This thesis work aims to develop a multimodal optical spectroscopy and imaging technique to complement the white-light imaging for improving cancer diagnosis at endoscopy.