Spectroscopic detection of cervical pre-cancer using radial basis function networks
First Claim
1. An apparatus for detecting and classifying tissue abnormality at a tissue site, comprising:
- (a) at least one source of electromagnetic radiation of selected wavelengths that excite different fluorescence intensity spectra in normal and abnormal tissue;
(b) a receiver sensitive to the fluorescence intensity spectra;
(c) a tissue site probe coupled to each source and to the receiver; and
(d) an ensemble of neural networks, coupled to the receiver, for calculating from the fluorescence intensity spectra a probability that the tissue site is normal or abnormal,wherein each neural network in such ensemble comprises a radial basis function (RBF) network for generating an associated probability estimate and further including a means for combining the probability estimates into a single probability.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and methods for spectroscopic detection of tissue abnormality, particularly precancerous cervical tissue, using neural networks to analyze in vivo measurements of fluorescence spectra. The invention excites fluorescence intensity spectra in both normal and abnormal tissue. This fluorescence spectroscopy data is used to train a group (ensemble) of neural networks, preferably radial basis function (RBF) neural networks. Once trained, fluorescence spectroscopy data from unknown tissue samples is classified by the trained neural networks. This process is used to differentiate pre-cancers from normal tissues, and can also be used to differentiate high grade pre-cancers from low grade pre-cancers. One embodiment of the invention is able to distinguish pre-cancerous tissue from both normal squamous tissue (NS) and normal columnar (NC) tissue in a single-stage of analysis. The invention demonstrates significantly smaller variability in classification accuracy, resulting in more reliable classification, with superior sensitivity. Moreover, the single-stage embodiment of the invention simplifies the decision-making process as compared to a two-stage embodiment.
-
Citations
46 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for detecting and classifying tissue abnormality at a tissue site, comprising:
-
(a) at least one source of electromagnetic radiation of selected wavelengths that excite different fluorescence intensity spectra in normal and abnormal tissue; (b) a receiver sensitive to the fluorescence intensity spectra; (c) a tissue site probe coupled to each source and to the receiver; and (d) an ensemble of neural networks, coupled to the receiver, for calculating from the fluorescence intensity spectra a probability that the tissue site is normal or abnormal, wherein each neural network in such ensemble comprises a radial basis function (RBF) network for generating an associated probability estimate and further including a means for combining the probability estimates into a single probability. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method for detecting and classifying tissue abnormality at a tissue site, comprising the steps of:
-
(a) exciting different fluorescence intensity spectra in normal and abnormal tissue; (b) receiving the fluorescence intensity spectra; and (c) calculating from the fluorescence intensity spectra, using an ensemble of neural networks, a probability that the tissue site is normal or abnormal, wherein each neural network in such ensemble comprises a radial basis function (RBF) network for generating an associated probability estimate, and further including the step of combining the probability estimates into a single probability. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A method for in vivo analysis of cervical tissue, comprising the steps of:
-
(a) inserting an optical probe within a cervix, the probe having a light source and a light receptor; (b) illuminating a selected area of the cervix with selected wavelengths of light from the light source; (c) exciting fluorescence intensity spectra in both normal and abnormal tissue in the cervix with the light; (d) receiving the fluorescence intensity spectra from the selected area through the light receptor; (e) analyzing the received fluorescence intensity spectra, using an ensemble of neural networks, to determine a probability that the cervical tissue in the selected area is normal or abnormal wherein each neural network in such ensemble comprises a radial basis function (RBF) network for generating an associated probability estimate, and further including the step of combining the probability estimates into a single probability. - View Dependent Claims (28)
-
-
29. A method for analyzing fluorescence intensity spectra from a tissue site in order to detect and classify tissue abnormality at the tissue site, comprising the step of:
-
(a) calculating from the fluorescence intensity spectra, using an ensemble of neural networks, a probability that the tissue site is normal or abnormal wherein each neural network in such ensemble comprises a radial basis function (RBF) network for generating an associated probability estimate, and further including the step of combining the probability estimates into a single probability. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
-
-
42. A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, for detecting and classifying tissue abnormality at a tissue site using data in a computer derived from fluorescence intensity spectra of normal and abnormal tissue, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to:
-
(a) pre-process the fluorescence intensity spectra data; and (b) calculate a probability that the tissue site is normal or abnormal from the fluorescence intensity spectra data using an ensemble of neural networks, wherein the computer program further comprises instructions for causing the computer to calculate the probability using an ensemble of radial basis function (RBF) networks, each generating an associated probability estimate, and to combine the probability estimates into a single probability. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46)
-
Specification