In this Medical Physics M.Sc. project, a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging system was built for in-vivo diagnosis and evaluation of pigmented skin abnormalities and diseases. Light coming from a 785 nm diode laser is coupled into a ring light guide to uniformly illuminate the skin surface with a field-of-view (FOV) of 25 mm diameter. The diffuse reflectance and emitted fluorescence photons are collected by an NIR-sensitive CCD camera, with computer-controlled filter switch to select between reflectance mode and fluorescence mode. Both reflectance and fluorescence images of skin disorders were obtained with an exposure time of 2 seconds. The results show that cutaneous melanin in pigmented skin disorders emits higher NIR autofluorescence (AF) than surrounding normal tissue. This finding challanged the conventional concept that melanin is a non-fluorescence substance. The developed NIR autofluorescence imaging method also provided a new and direct way to characterize cutaneous melanin and can potentially be used for evaluation and diagnosis of pigmented skin diseases and skin cancers, such as melanoma.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/77 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Han, Xiao |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 54871240 bytes, application/pdf |
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