On-the-fly detection of changes on and below the surface in epithelium mucosal tissue architecture from scattered light.

In this paper we present a technique to raise a flag on the fly when a transition occurs between different mucosal architectures on or below the surface. The segmentation is based on a novel difference metric for detecting an abrupt change in the parameters extracted from a Stochastic Decomposition Method (SDM) that models the scattered light reflected from the mucosal tissue structure over an area (2-D scan) illuminated by an optical sensor (fiber) emitting light at either one wavelength or with white light. This work has the potential to enhance the endoscopist's ability to locate and identify abnormal mucosal architectures in particular when the disease is developing below the surface and hence becoming hidden during colonoscopy or endoscopic examination. It also has also potential in helping deciding as to when and where to take biopsies; steps that should lead to improvement in the diagnostic yield. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]