The main purpose of this study is to explore the potential of optical active molecules as molecular contrast agents in increasing the image contrast resolution of biological structures in conjunction with optical polarimetric techniques using a preclinical phantom. The outcome of this study may contribute to enhanced detection of early diseases and pathologies in tissue.
In this study, a preclinical phantom is designed and experiments were performed using a backscattered polarimetric imaging system. By using the principle of a rotating retarder polarimeter and data reduction algorithm based on polarimetric measurement matrix, Stokes parameters are calculated and finally the DOLP images are calculated. The obtained S0 and DOLP images are fused to get a fused image with higher details. This step is followed for each concentration of optically active molecular contrast agents added to the preclinical phantom. The mean intensities and the signal-to-background ratio are calculated as means to determine the image quality.
The results of the experiment showed an increase in image quality parameters with increase in concentration of contrast agents like isopropyl alcohol, sugar solution and salt solution, to the preclinical phantom. It also showed that the DOLP and the fused images are better than S0 images stating that the polarized light yields better output than the total intensity images. This optical polarimetric system in conjunction with the contrast agents can contribute to an effective imaging system for enhanced imaging characteristics. This can help in early detection of tumor present.