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. 2024 Mar 11;8(1):016117.
doi: 10.1063/5.0190573. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Terahertz in vivo imaging of human skin: Toward detection of abnormal skin pathologies

X Qi  1 , K Bertling  1 , J Torniainen  1 , F Kong  2 , T Gillespie  1 , C Primiero  2 , M S Stark  2 , P Dean  3 , D Indjin  3 , L H Li  3 , E H Linfield  3 , A G Davies  3 , M Brünig  1 , T Mills  4 , C Rosendahl  5 , H P Soyer  2 , A D Rakić  1
Affiliations

Terahertz in vivo imaging of human skin: Toward detection of abnormal skin pathologies

X Qi et al. APL Bioeng. .

Abstract

Terahertz (THz) imaging has long held promise for skin cancer detection but has been hampered by the lack of practical technological implementation. In this article, we introduce a technique for discriminating several skin pathologies using a coherent THz confocal system based on a THz quantum cascade laser. High resolution in vivo THz images (with diffraction limited to the order of 100 μm) of several different lesion types were acquired and compared against one another using the amplitude and phase values. Our system successfully separated pathologies using a combination of phase and amplitude information and their respective surface textures. The large scan field (50 × 40 mm) of the system allows macroscopic visualization of several skin lesions in a single frame. Utilizing THz imaging for dermatological assessment of skin lesions offers substantial additional diagnostic value for clinicians. THz images contain information complementary to the information contained in the conventional digital images.

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Conflict of interest statement

X.Q., K.B., J.T., T.G., P.D., D.I., E.H.L., M.S.S., H.P.S., and A.D.R. are authors of relevant patents. T.M. is an executive of OscillaDx Pty Ltd. H.P.S. is a shareholder of MoleMap NZ Limited and e-derm consult GmbH and undertakes regular teledermatological reporting for both companies. H.P.S. is a Medical Consultant for Canfield Scientific Inc, Blaze Bioscience Inc, and a Medical Advisor for First Derm. The other authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to this article. The research was conducted to refine and develop the imaging technology. The authors declare that this study received funding from OscillaDx Pty Ltd, Brisbane, with involvement in the study design.

Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Overview of different skin lesion types included in the study. The amplitude and phase images were scaled to ±1.96 standard deviations around the mean value of the respective images.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
A close-up of large skin lesions with multiple complementary features in amplitude and phase images. The amplitude and phase images were scaled to ±1.96 standard deviations around the mean value of the respective images.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Distribution of amplitude-phase values of different skin lesions represented as kernel density estimates. Shaded regions correspond to the joint distributions estimated over all participants and all regions-of-interest. The markers represent the mass center of each individual region interest with a number corresponding to the participant.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
Distribution of amplitude and phase local binary pattern textures of different skin lesions represented as kernel density estimates. Shaded regions correspond to the joint distributions estimated over all participants and all regions of interest. The markers represent the mass center of each individual region interest with a number corresponding to the participant.
FIG. 5.
FIG. 5.
THz in vivo images of skin lesions and alongside images from conventional noninvasive imaging equipment including: (a) The 3D image (body map) acquired using a VECTRA WB360 from Canfield Scientific; (b) The digital camera image from a conventional digital camera; (c) The dermoscopic image using a conventional handheld dermatoscope; (d) The THz amplitude and phase images from the QCL based THz in vivo imaging system (e), where the laser beam from the THz QCL is collimated by a collimating lens and then guided by two mirrors onto a scanning mirror and then focused by an objective lens and incident upon a skin lesion.
FIG. 6.
FIG. 6.
Post-processing pipeline used for the current measurements.
FIG. 7.
FIG. 7.
(a) Histogram of different region-of-interest sizes used in the study. (b) Visual demonstration of the relative sizes of the three ROI types. (c) Histogram of different skin lesions included in the study.
FIG. 8.
FIG. 8.
The distribution of skin pathologies vs surrounding healthy skin in the THz amplitude-phase map.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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