Significance: Screening and early detection of oral potentially malignant lesions (OPMLs) are of great significance in reducing the mortality rates associated with head and neck malignancies. Intra-oral multispectral optical imaging of tissues in conjunction with cloud-based machine learning (CBML) can be used to detect oral precancers at the point-of-care (POC) and guide the clinician to the most malignant site for biopsy.
Aim: Develop a bimodal multispectral imaging system (BMIS) combining tissue autofluorescence and diffuse reflectance (DR) for mapping changes in oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) absorption in the oral mucosa, quantifying tissue abnormalities, and guiding biopsies.
Approach: The hand-held widefield BMIS consisting of LEDs emitting at 405, 545, 575, and 610 nm, 5MPx monochrome camera, and proprietary Windows-based software was developed for image capture, processing, and analytics. The DR image ratio (R610/R545) was compared with pathologic classification to develop a CBML algorithm for real-time assessment of tissue status at the POC.
Results: Sensitivity of 97.5% and specificity of 92.5% were achieved for discrimination of OPML from patient normal in 40 sites, whereas 82% sensitivity and 96.6% specificity were obtained for discrimination of abnormal (OPML + SCC) in 89 sites. Site-specific algorithms derived for buccal mucosa (27 sites) showed improved sensitivity and specificity of 96.3% for discrimination of OPML from normal.
Conclusions: Assessment of oral cancer risk is possible by mapping of HbO2 absorption in tissues, and the BMIS system developed appears to be suitable for biopsy guidance and early detection of oral cancers.
Keywords: biopsy guidance; multispectral bimodal imaging; oral cancer screening and early detection; oral potentially malignant lesions; oxygenated hemoglobin absorption mapping; wide-field diffuse reflectance imaging.