Multispectral Image Analysis of Vasculatures in Sublingual Mucosa

Endoscopic investigations are predominant standards in assessing any malignancies in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Early cancer detection is one of the primary areas of research, which aids in reducing the severity of the disease and treatment of cancer patients. Standard endoscopic procedures employ white light sources with visual limitations when imaging the tissues. One well-known but unexplored area is light-tissue interaction that deals with the penetration of light on different layers of tissue. A multispectral light source unit will help study the tissue under different illumination compared to standard white light illumination. In this study, the oral region, specifically the sublingual region of the oral mucosa, was imaged using nine different light spectra. Since angiogenesis plays a critical role in the growth of cancer it is important to study the characteristics of vascular structures under various wavelengths. A superficial vessel and a deep-seated vessel were chosen specifically from the resultant images to study the gradual change in absorption and reflection of various wavelengths. The contrast values computed showed high values for superficial vessels at low wavelengths and high values for deep-seated vessels at higher wavelengths. The contrast values computed also show that images captured under various wavelengths can be used to create the depth map of the vascular structures that will aid in easier detection of angiogenesis and improve visualization of the GI tract during endoscopy.