Optical detection of dental caries

• US 20040202356A1
• Filed: 04/10/2003
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: George K. Stookey, Kenneth R. Dunipace
• Original Assignee: George K. Stookey, Kenneth R. Dunipace
• Inventors: Dunipace, Kenneth R., Stookey, George K.
• Application Number:
  US10/411,625
• Publication Number:
  US 20040202356A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0088 for oral or dental tissue

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and system for easy detection of diseased tissue. The method of the present invention comprises the steps of quantifying fluorescence spectral values of a plurality of tissue regions of a target tissue, wherein the plurality of tissue regions represent stages of development of a disease; (b) transforming the fluorescence spectral values to produce enhanced spectral values for each tissue region; and (c) displaying an enhanced image of the plurality of tissue regions using the transformed spectral values, wherein the plurality of tissue regions appear substantially distinguishable. The system of the invention comprises a recording device for recording a fluorescence image of a target tissue having a plurality of regions, a processor operably coupled with the recording device for processing the image and producing spectral data, software operably coupled with the processor for transforming the spectral data into enhanced data, and a display screen operably coupled with software for displaying an enhanced image of the plurality of regions of the target tissue.

Claims

1. A method for enhancing imaging of diseased tissue comprising the steps of:

(a) quantifying fluorescence spectral values of a plurality of tissue regions of a target tissue, wherein the plurality of tissue regions represents stages of development of a disease;

(b) transforming the fluorescence spectral values to produce enhanced spectral values for each tissue region; and

(c) displaying an enhanced image of the plurality of tissue regions using the transformed spectral values.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said transforming step (b) includes multiplying the spectral values with predetermined enhancing coefficients to produce the enhanced spectral values, the enhancing coefficients calculated based on spectral changes during the stages of development of the disease.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of quantifying (a) includes measuring fluorescence intensity of each tissue region at a range of wavelengths representing a red spectrum (R), a green spectrum (G) and a blue spectrum (B).

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said step of quantifying (a) further comprises the step of recording the fluorescence spectral values using a digital camera having sensors corresponding to R, G, and B, and producing a digital image having a plurality of pixels,

wherein the fluorescence spectral value recorded by the sensor corresponding to R is represented by a red component (R_m), the fluorescence spectral value recorded by the sensor corresponding to G is represented by a green component (G_m), and the fluorescence spectral value recorded by the sensor corresponding to B is represented by a blue component (B_m) of each pixel.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said transforming step (b) includes modifying at least one of:

R_m, G_m, and B_m of at least one of the plurality of tissue regions to produce the enhanced spectral values for each tissue region,

wherein an enhanced red component (R_d) corresponds to the modified R_m, the enhanced green component (G_d) corresponds to the modified G_m, and an enhanced blue component (B_d) corresponds to the modified B_m of each pixel.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said displaying (c) includes displaying the enhanced image of the plurality of tissue regions by digital imaging using R_d, G_d, and B_d of each pixel for each tissue region.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the plurality of tissue regions comprises:

a region of healthy tissue, a region of initial diseased tissue, and a region of advanced diseased tissue.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the target tissue is a tooth.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the region of healthy tissue shows no caries (NC), the region of initial diseased tissue shows initial caries (IC), and the region of advanced diseased tissue shows advanced caries (AC).

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the fluorescence spectral values are obtained from measuring fluorescence intensity of NC, IC and AC at a range of wavelengths representing a red spectrum (R), a green spectrum (G) and a blue spectrum (B),

wherein said step of quantifying (a) further comprises the step of recording the fluorescence spectral values of NC, IC, and AC using a digital camera having sensors corresponding to R, G, and B, producing a digital image having a plurality of pixels,

wherein the fluorescence spectral value recorded by the sensor corresponding to R is represented by an R component (R_m), the fluorescence spectral value recorded by the sensor corresponding to G is represented by a green component (G_m), and the fluorescence spectral value recorded by the sensor corresponding to B is represented by a blue component (B_m) of each pixel for NC, IC and AC.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said transforming step (b) includes optionally modifying R_m to produce an enhanced red component (R_d), optionally modifying G_m to produce an enhanced green component (G_d), and optionally modifying B_m to produce an enhanced blue component (B_d) of each pixel for corresponding NC, IC and AC.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein R_d of NC is substantially lower than R_d of AC, G_d of NC is substantially higher than G_d of AC, and B_d of NC is optionally substantially higher than B_d of NC.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein R_d of NC is equal to zero (0), and G_d of AC and B_d of AC are equal to zero (0).

14. The method of claim 11, wherein

R_d of each NC, IC, and AC represents a first linear relationship of R_m, G_m, and B_m of corresponding NC, IC, and AC, respectively,

G_d of each NC, IC, and AC represents a second linear relationship of R_m, G_m, and B_m of corresponding NC, IC, and AC, respectively, and

B_d of each NC, IC, and AC represents a third linear relationship of R_m, G_m, and B_m of corresponding NC, IC, and AC, respectively.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first linear relationship is represented by:

R_d=a₁R_m+a₂G_m+a₃B_m,

wherein the second linear relationship is represented by;

G_d=b₁R_m+b₂G_m+b₃B_m,

wherein the third linear relationship is represented by;

B_d=c₁R_m+c₂G_m+c₃B_m,

wherein R_d represents R_d of NC, IC, or AC;

G_d represents G_d of NC, IC, or AC;

B_d represents B_d of NC, IC, or AC;

R_m represents R_m of corresponding NC, IC, or AC;

G_m represents G_m of corresponding NC, IC, or AC;

B_m represents B_m of corresponding NC, IC, or AC;

a₁, a₂, a₃, b₁, b₂, b₃, c₁, c₂, and c₃ represent predetermined coefficients at each pixel.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said step of displaying (c) includes producing digital imaging of the enhanced image of NC, IC, and AC by using corresponding R_d, G_d, and B_d.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein R_d is represented by:

R_d=k₁₁+k₁₂d,

G_d=k₂₁+k₂₂d,

B_d=k₃₁+k₃₂d,

wherein R_d represents R_d of NC, IC, or AC;

G_d represents G_d of NC, IC, or AC;

B_d represents B_d of NC, IC, or AC;

d represents the ratio;

R_m/(G_m+B_m), wherein R_m represents R_m of corresponding NC, IC, or AC;

G_m represents G_m of corresponding NC, IC, or AC, and B_m of corresponding NC, IC, or AC;

k₁₁, k₁₂, k₂₁, k₂₂, k₃₁, k₃₂ represent previously determined coefficients.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said step of displaying (c) includes producing digital imaging of the enhanced image of NC, IC, and AC by using corresponding R_d, G_d, and B_d.

19. A system for detecting development stages of a disease comprising:

a recording device capable of recording an image of a target tissue having a plurality of regions representing stages of development of a disease, said recording device recording fluorescence spectral values from the plurality of regions;

a processor operably coupled with said recording device for processing the recorded fluorescence spectral values and producing spectral data representing to the plurality of regions of the target tissue;

software operably coupled with said processor for enabling a transformation of spectral data into enhanced spectral data representing an enhanced image of the plurality of regions of the target tissue, the transformation including multiplying the spectral data with predetermined enhancing coefficients, the predetermined enhancing coefficients calculated based on spectral changes during stages of disease development; and

a display screen operably coupled with software for displaying the enhanced image of the plurality of regions of the target tissue, wherein the plurality of regions are distinguishable by color.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising a camera probe electronically connected with the recording device, configured to enter restricted area to record the image of the target tissue.

21. The system of claim 19 further comprising a light source for inducing the target tissue to produce fluorescence spectral values.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein said recording device is a digital camera.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein said recording device is a video camera.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein said recording device has a spectral sensors for recording fluorescence spectral values corresponding to the wavelengths representing a plurality of spectra.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said sensors comprise:

a sensor for recording fluorescence values representing a red spectrum;

a sensor for recording fluorescence values representing a green spectrum; and

a sensor for recording fluorescence values representing a blue spectrum.

26. The system of claim 19 wherein said software is provided in a computer defining said display screen.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein said display screen is configured to display a plurality of colors corresponding to the enhanced spectral data.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein said display screen is configured to digitally display the enhanced image.

29. The system of claim 19 adapted to detect a tooth disease.

30. The system of claim 29 adapted to detect tooth caries.