Instrumentation Evaluation for Hyperspectral Microscopy Targeting Enhanced Medical Histology

Abstract

Hyperspectral (HS) imaging is a novel technique that allows a better understanding of materials, being an improvement respect to other imaging modalities in multiple applications. The selection of the appropriate HS sensor technology for certain applications is a crucial first step since different sensor types provide different characteristics. In this work, the evaluation of two different HS sensors coupled to an optical microscope was performed targeting medical histology applications. First, two illumination systems were characterized, since optimal illumination is needed for proper sample visualization. Afterwards, different parameters, such as magnification, spatial and spectral resolution, and acquisition time, were measured for both HS sensors. Moreover, breast cancer histological samples from a postoperative analysis were captured to evaluate the performance of each sensor in the targeted application. The main results show that the spatial-spectral scanning sensor allows capturing data in higher magnifications (up to 50×) using the standard illumination from the microscope, while spatial scanning sensor only reach a maximum magnification of 20×. However, the spectral information provided by the spatial scanning sensor is more accurate than the spatial-spectral scanning sensor. Hence, there is a tradeoff between both technologies depending on the final application to be studied.