Monte Carlo autofluorescence modeling of cervical intraepithelial neoplasm progression

Monte Carlo fluorescence model has been developed to estimate the autofluorescent spectra associated with the progression of the Exo-Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasm (CIN). We used double integrating spheres system and a tunable light source system, 380 to 600 nm, to measure the reflection and transmission spectra of a 50 μm thick tissue, and used Inverse Adding-Doubling (IAD) method to estimate the absorption (μ_a) and scattering (μ_s) coefficients. Human cervical tissue samples were sliced vertically (longitudinal) by the frozen section method. The results show that the absorption and scattering coefficients of cervical neoplasia are 2∼3 times higher than normal tissues. We applied Monte Carlo method to estimate photon distribution and fluorescence emission in the tissue. By combining the intrinsic fluorescence information (collagen, NADH, and FAD), the anatomical information of the epithelium, CIN, stroma layers, and the fluorescence escape function, the autofluorescence spectra of CIN at different development stages were obtained. We have observed that the progression of the CIN results in gradually decreasing of the autofluorescence intensity of collagen peak intensity. In addition, the existence of the CIN layer formeda barrier that blocks the autofluorescence escaping from the stroma layer due to the strong extinction(scattering and absorption) of the CIN layer. To our knowledge, this is the first study measuring theCIN optical properties in the visible range; it also successfully demonstrates the fluorescence model forestimating autofluorescence spectra of cervical tissue associated with the progression of the CIN tissue;this model is very important in assisting the CIN diagnosis and treatment in clinical medicine.