Towards polarization-sensitive imaging through flexible endoscopes for upper gastrointestinal cancer detection

Upper gastrointestinal cancers are deadly diseases with a strong need for early detection. Our work has shown that polarization-sensitive imaging shows promise for high sensitivity disease detection in ex vivo tissue studies. Based on these results, we developed a flexible polarization-sensitive imaging endoscope using a coherent fiber bundle and pixelated polarizer. With this device, we established calibration and image reconstruction algorithms to provide spatially-resolved polarization-sensitive images. These advancements lay the foundation for clinic-ready polarization-sensitive imaging technology for endoscopic detection of upper gastrointestinal cancer.