Simulations of fluorescence imaging in the oral cavity

We describe an end-to-end image systems simulation that models a device capable of measuring fluorescence in the oral cavity. Our software includes a 3D model of the oral cavity and excitation-emission matrices of endogenous fluorophores that predict the spectral radiance of oral mucosal tissue. The predicted radiance is transformed by a model of the optics and image sensor to generate expected sensor image values. We compare simulated and real camera data from tongues in healthy individuals and show that the camera sensor chromaticity values can be used to quantify the fluorescence from porphyrins relative to the bulk fluorescence from multiple fluorophores (elastin, NADH, FAD, and collagen). Validation of the simulations supports the use of soft-prototyping in guiding system design for fluorescence imaging.