Abstract

Understanding tumors and their microenvironment is essential for successful and accurate disease diagnosis. Hyperspectral imaging in VIS-NIR spectral region was used to image benign and malign skin tumors in the head and neck regions of human volunteers. The images were analyzed using five tissue indices (Dawson's melanin and corrected erythema indices, Huang's and Ishimaru's skin oxygenation indices, and tissue water index) to extract tissue parameters important for understanding tumor physiology and morphology. Two examples are presented, one of a benign papillary nevus, and one of a basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The indices show that the nevus has substantially higher melanin index, whereas the BCC has increased erythema index, both oxygenations, and water index. The indices can help with determination and classification of tumors, and provide information about the processes present in the tumorous and healthy tissue.

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