Clinical Translation of Spatial Modulated Quantitative Spectroscopy; Measurement of Optical Properties and Chromophore Concentrations in Normal and Highly Pigmented Skin

Spatial Modulated Quantitative Spectroscopy (SMoQS) is a spectroscopic technique that works in the spatial frequency domain, capable of recovering in-vitro optical properties throughout the visible, and near infrared wavelength range (430nm–1050nm). The challenges in screening for Melanoma in the clinic in a non-invasive fashion has motivated the translation of SMoQS into a clinical viable device, which is able to recover high fidelity in-vivo optical properties rapidly under operating constraints in the clinic, while accounting for the layered anatomy of skin. This thesis presents the process of SMoQS' clinical translation and the quantification of its performance and stability in terms of recovered optical properties. In addition, we describe a method of generating a device calibration file in the visible and near infrared range. Finally, we present results obtained from in-vivo clinical SMoQS measurements on areas of high pigmentation and associated normal skin of the human skin. Optical property and chromophore concentration results obtained using this device is in agreement with the literature.