Terahertz Polarization Imaging for Colon Cancer Detection

Continuous wave terahertz (THz) imaging has the potential to offer a safe, noninvasive medical imaging modality for delineating colorectal cancer. The terahertz reflectance measurements of fresh 3 – 5 mm thick human colonic excisions were acquired using a continuous-wave polarization imaging technique. A CO2 optically pumped FarInfrared molecular gas laser operating at 584 GHz was used to illuminate the colon tissue, while the reflected signals were detected using a liquid Helium cooled silicon bolometer. Both co-polarized and cross-polarized remittance from the samples was collected using wire grid polarizers in the experiment. The experimental analysis of 2D images obtained from THz reflection polarization imaging techniques showed intrinsic contrast between cancerous and normal regions based on increased reflection from the tumor. Also, the study demonstrates that the cross-polarized terahertz images not only correlates better with the histology, but also provide consistent relative reflectance difference values between normal and cancerous regions for all the measured specimens.