A laser induced fluorescence imaging system for localization of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma is developed. In this fluorescence imaging system, the fluorescence intensity with information of detected objection is gained by an image intensifier, which makes color information of the fluorescence image eliminated and the result is a monochrome image of the fluorescence with thermally induced noise. The monochrome fluorescence image is sent to a CCD and captured by an image board, which is controlled by a computer. Image processing is carried out to improve the image quality and therefore improve the system's ability to differentiate carcinomas from normal tissue. Gaussian smoothing is implemented in order to reduce the noise. Image binarizing process is realized to obtain an optimal threshold of the image. Image pixels with grey value below this threshold are assigned as diseased and those above are normal. A pseudo color processing is then accomplished to get better visual perception and understanding of the image, greatly increasing the detail resolution of the grey image. The processed image is then displayed on the screen of the computer in real time. The real time laser induced fluorescence imaging system with the image processing methods developed is efficient for localization of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Date Published: 8 January 2008
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 6826, Optics in Health Care and Biomedical Optics III, 68262M (8 January 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.755102

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6826:
Optics in Health Care and Biomedical Optics III
Xingde Li; Qingming Luo; Ying Gu M.D., Editor(s)