Design and Characterization of a Hyperspectral Colposcope Based on Dual-LCTF VNIR Narrow-Band Illumination

Abstract

Highlights What are the main findings? A dual-LCTF hyperspectral colposcope with emission-filtering and wavelength-dependent exposure was developed and quantitatively characterized over an extended VNIR range (460-1000 nm). Spectral scanning using LCTF technology provided improved robustness to motion artefacts and reduced acquisition time compared with a Snapscan-based hyperspectral colposcope. What are the implications of the main finding? Emission-filtering combined with wavelength-dependent exposure provides a clinically robust alternative to spatio-spectral scanning for in vivo hyperspectral applications. Improved acquisition robustness and reduced motion artefacts support the integration of hyperspectral imaging into real-world cervical cancer screening workflows.Highlights What are the main findings? A dual-LCTF hyperspectral colposcope with emission-filtering and wavelength-dependent exposure was developed and quantitatively characterized over an extended VNIR range (460-1000 nm). Spectral scanning using LCTF technology provided improved robustness to motion artefacts and reduced acquisition time compared with a Snapscan-based hyperspectral colposcope. What are the implications of the main finding? Emission-filtering combined with wavelength-dependent exposure provides a clinically robust alternative to spatio-spectral scanning for in vivo hyperspectral applications. Improved acquisition robustness and reduced motion artefacts support the integration of hyperspectral imaging into real-world cervical cancer screening workflows.Abstract Early detection of precancerous cervical lesions is critical for improving patient management and clinical outcomes. Hyperspectral imaging has emerged as a promising non-invasive, label-free imaging modality for rapid medical diagnosis. This work presents the development of a liquid-crystal-tunable-filter-based hyperspectral colposcopy system covering the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges. The proposed system integrates two tunable filters into an existing Optomic OP-C5 clinical colposcope, enabling hyperspectral acquisition from 460 to 1000 nm with 130 spectral bands at 5 nm resolution using a panchromatic camera. Two alternative acquisition strategies were investigated: (i) filtering the light received by the system, or (ii) filtering the light emitted toward the sample. In addition, wavelength-dependent exposure control was studied to compensate for reduced system sensitivity and improve the signal-to-noise ratio in low-efficiency spectral regions. The system was benchmarked against a previous custom hyperspectral implementation based on a commercial camera. The comparative analysis highlights the advantages and limitations of both approaches, demonstrating the proposed system's suitability for integration into clinical workflows and its potential for early detection of precancerous cervical lesions during routine colposcopic examinations.