Estimating quantitative physiological and morphological tissue parameters of murine tumor models using hyperspectral...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Imaging
• Cancer Research

Background:

• Tumor microenvironment characterization is crucial for accurate cancer diagnosis.
• Non-invasive monitoring of tumor tissues and vasculature is needed.
• Current methods lack comprehensive in vivo tissue property analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a multimodal optical imaging system for non-invasive tumor assessment.
• To quantify tissue properties and blood oxygenation in murine tumor models.
• To compare 3D optical profilometry tumor volume measurements with manual methods.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a combined hyperspectral imaging (HSI) and 3D optical profilometry (OP) system.
• Applied the inverse-adding doubling (IAD) method for tissue property extraction (melanin, oxygenation).
• Employed the B-COSFIRE algorithm for blood vessel segmentation and calculated tumor volumes using 3D OP.

Main Results:

• Tumors were distinguishable from healthy tissue using extracted parameters.
• Blood oxygenation within vessels was 50% higher than surrounding tissue.
• 3D OP tumor volume measurements showed a 26% agreement with manual caliper measurements.

Conclusions:

• The integrated HSI and OP system provides quantitative insights into tumor characteristics.
• This multimodal approach shows potential for improving non-invasive cancer diagnosis.
• Further validation in diverse tumor models is warranted.