Multispectral digital microscopy for in vivo monitoring of oral neoplasia in the hamster cheek pouch model of carcinogenesis

In this study we use a multi-spectral digital microscope (MDM) to measure multi-spectral auto-fluorescence and reflectance images of the hamster cheek pouch model of DMBA (dimethylbenz[a]anthracene)-induced oral carcinogenesis. The multi-spectral images are analyzed both in the RGB (red, green, blue) color space as well as in the YCbCr (luminance, chromatic minus blue, chromatic minus red) color space. Mean image intensity, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis are selected as features to design a classification algorithm to discriminate normal mucosa from neoplastic tissue. The best diagnostic performance is achieved using features extracted from the YCbCr space, indicating the importance of chromatic information for classification. A sensitivity of 96% and a specificity of 84% were achieved in separating normal from abnormal cheek pouch lesions. The results of this study suggest that a simple and inexpensive MDM has the potential to provide a cost-effective and accurate alternative to standard white light endoscopy.