Automated Vessel Pattern Characterization of Larynx Contact Endoscopy Images

During the development of malignant lesions in the larynx, the structure of vocal fold blood vessels undergoes significant changes. Therefore, the evaluation of vascular patterns is playing an important role in the organization of the treatment plan. Contact Endoscopy (CE) is a minimally invasive and an optical imaging technique that can provide a real-time and in situ examination of the vascular patterns of the laryngeal mucosa. This technique has some problems such as subjectivity in the interpretation of patterns that can affect the medical judgments. In order to solve this problem, a novel automated approach is developed for characterization of vascular patterns in larynx CE images. In this program, image and signal processing methods are used to characterize the vascular patterns based on the level of disorder of the gradient and direction as well as the curvature of the vessels.