Diagnose human colonic tissues by terahertz near-field imaging

Abstract

Abstract. Based on a terahertz (THz) pipe-based near-field imaging system, we demonstrate the capability of THz imaging to diagnose freshly surgically excised human colonic tissues. Through THz near-field scanning the absorbance of the colonic tissues, the acquired images can clearly distinguish cancerous tissues from healthy tissues fast and automatically without pathological hematoxylin and eosin stain diagnosis. A statistical study on 58 specimens (20 healthy tissues and 38 tissues with tumor) from 31 patients (mean age: 59 years; range: 46 to 79 years) shows that the corresponding diagnostic sensitivity and specificity on colonic tissues are both 100%. Due to its capability to perform quantitative analysis, our study indicates the potential of the THz pipe-based near-field imaging for future automation on human tumor pathological examinations. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

Biomedical Applications of Terahertz Spectroscopy and Imaging

“…Taking pathological biopsy as the gold standard for reference, THz in vitro imaging has been extensively applied in digestive system [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64], integumentary system [65,66], reproductive system [67][68][69][70], respiratory system [57], and nervous system [49] neoplasms. Frozen sections [54,56], formalin fixations [57], and paraffin sections [67] have typically been applied as specimen pretreatment processes to overcome the strong water absorption loss.…”

Terahertz endoscopic imaging for colorectal cancer detection: Current status and future perspectives

“…Most single frequency systems used for imaging colon tissue thus far work at around 0.6 THz (500 µm) as a compromise between these two factors. A notable exception is the work done by Chen et al[ 41 ] in transmission imaging at 0.3 THz (approximately 1 mm); they compensate for the lower far-field resolution by using a specially designed aperture which allows for significantly higher resolution in the near field.…”

“…Two groups so far have demonstrated waveguide based THz imaging. Chen et al[ 41 ] used a polymethyl-methacrylate waveguide to demonstrate THz transmission imaging of human colon tissue and Doradla et al[ 37 ] demonstrated reflection modality imaging using a single channel THz waveguide.…”

Continuous-terahertz-wave molecular imaging system for biomedical applications

“…17 In contrast, the continuous-THz-wave imaging system, which has also been widely employed for biomedical imaging of various tissues, is simple, low cost, and stable. [19][20][21][22] Also, the imaging speed of the continuous-THz-wave imaging system is always faster than the pulsed imaging system without the need for coherent detection of THz pulses. In addition, the absorption of water vapor at low THz frequencies is small 17 and thus the continuous-THz-wave imaging system could be more feasible for practical applications.…”