Physiological Imaging: When the Pixel Size Matters

TL;DR

This paper discusses the technical and physiological considerations crucial for the development and reproducibility of physiological imaging technologies, emphasizing factors like pixel size, sampling, and distance to improve clinical reliability.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of technical and physiological factors in designing physiological imaging systems to ensure quantifiable results and facilitate clinical adoption.

Findings

Factors like binning and spatial sampling are critical for reproducibility.

Proper system design enhances credibility and clinical adoption.

Implications vary across hyperspectral, fluorescence, and thermography modalities.

Abstract

With the proliferation of inexpensive CMOS cameras, medical imaging experiences a noticeable influx of new technologies. While anatomical imaging is based on well-established principles of photography, physiological optical imaging is a relatively novel range of technologies that requires considering a new set of technical and physiological aspects. We discuss several factors (binning, spatial frequency sampling, and distance to the target area) indispensable to getting quantifiable and reproducible results, which are the essence of physiological imaging. We also discussed their implications for several commonly used physiological imaging modalities, including hyperspectral/multispectral imaging, fluorescence imaging, and thermography. Physiological imaging technologies are in their infancy. Thus, the proper design, which considers technical and physiological aspects, is paramount to establishing their credibility and driving clinical adoption.