Mueller matrix imaging of pathological slides with plastic coverslips

Area of Science:

• Polarization imaging
• Digital pathology
• Biomedical optics

Background:

• Mueller matrix microscopy offers advanced polarization characterization for pathological samples.
• Hospitals are transitioning to plastic coverslips for automated slide preparation, but these introduce birefringence artifacts.
• These artifacts complicate Mueller matrix imaging, hindering accurate digital pathology analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a method for removing polarization artifacts introduced by plastic coverslips in Mueller matrix microscopy.
• To enable reliable polarization imaging of pathological tissues using plastic coverslips.

Main Methods:

• A spatial frequency based calibration method (SFCM) was employed.
• Polarization information from plastic coverslips and pathological tissues was separated using spatial frequency analysis.
• Mueller matrix images were restored through matrix inversions.

Main Results:

• SFCM successfully separated the polarization signatures of plastic coverslips and lung cancer tissues.
• Restored Mueller matrix images demonstrated the effective removal of plastic coverslip-induced artifacts.
• Paired sample comparisons confirmed the method's efficacy in artifact reduction.

Conclusions:

• The spatial frequency based calibration method (SFCM) is a viable technique for correcting plastic coverslip birefringence in Mueller matrix microscopy.
• This method enhances the quality of polarization imaging for digital pathology applications.
• SFCM facilitates the use of modern plastic coverslips without compromising the integrity of polarization-based tissue analysis.