This research presents investigation results of the diagnostic efficiency of an azimuthally stable Mueller-matrix method of analysis of laser autofluorescence of polycrystalline films of dried uterine cavity peritoneal fluid. A model of the generalized optical anisotropy of films of dried peritoneal fluid is proposed in order to define the processes of laser autofluorescence. The influence of complex mechanisms of both phase (linear and circular birefringence) and amplitude (linear and circular dichroism) anisotropies is taken into consideration. The interconnections between the azimuthally stable Mueller-matrix elements characterizing laser autofluorescence and different mechanisms of optical anisotropy are determined. The statistical analysis of coordinate distributions of such Mueller-matrix rotation invariants is proposed. Thereupon the quantitative criteria (statistic moments of the first to the fourth order) of differentiation of polycrystalline films of dried peritoneal fluid, group 1 (healthy donors) and group 2 (uterus endometriosis patients), are determined.

The decomposition of the Mueller matrix of blood films has been carried out using differential matrices with polarized and depolarized parts. The use of a coherent reference wave is applied and the algorithm of digital holographic reconstruction of the field of complex amplitudes is used. On this basis, the 3D Mueller-matrix diffuse tomography method—the reconstruction of distributions of fluctuations of linear and circular birefringence of depolarizing polycrystalline films of human blood is analytically justified and experimentally tested. The dynamics of the change in the magnitude of the statistical moments of the first-fourth order, which characterize layer-by-layer distributions of fluctuations in the phase anisotropy of the blood film, is examined and analyzed. The most sensitive parameters for prostate cancer are the statistical moments of the third and fourth orders, which characterize the asymmetry and kurtosis of fluctuations in the linear and circular birefringence of blood films. The excellent accuracy of differentiation obtained polycrystalline films of blood from healthy donors and patients with cancer patients was achieved.

The optical model of formation of polarization structure of laser radiation scattered by polycrystalline networks of human skin in Fourier plane was elaborated. The results of investigation of the values of statistical (statistical moments of the 1st to 4th order) parameters of polarization-inhomogeneous images of skin surface in Fourier plane were presented. The diagnostic criteria of pathological process in human skin and its severity degree differentiation were determined.

SignificanceMueller-matrix polarimetry is a powerful method allowing for the visualization of malformations in biological tissues and quantitative evaluation of alterations associated with the progression of various diseases. This approach, in fact, is limited in observation of spatial localization and scale-selective changes in the poly-crystalline compound of tissue samples.AimWe aimed to improve the Mueller-matrix polarimetry approach by implementing the wavelet decomposition accompanied with the polarization-singular processing for express differential diagnosis of local changes in the poly-crystalline structure of tissue samples with various pathology.ApproachMueller-matrix maps obtained experimentally in transmitted mode are processed utilizing a combination of a topological singular polarization approach and scale-selective wavelet analysis for quantitative assessment of the adenoma and carcinoma histological sections of the prostate tissues.ResultsA relationship between the characteristic values of the Mueller-matrix elements and singular states of linear and circular polarization is established within the framework of the phase anisotropy phenomenological model in terms of linear birefringence. A robust method for expedited (up to ∼15 min) polarimetric-based differential diagnosis of local variations in the poly-crystalline structure of tissue samples containing various pathology abnormalities is introduced.ConclusionsThe benign and malignant states of the prostate tissue are identified and assessed quantitatively with a superior accuracy provided by the developed Mueller-matrix polarimetry approach.

This study focuses on the topographic structure of optical anisotropy maps (theziograms) of dehydrated blood plasma films (facies) to identify and utilize markers for diagnosing self-similarity (multifractality) in the birefringence parameters of supramolecular protein networks. The research is based on the Jones-matrix analytical framework, which describes the formation of polarization-structural speckle fields in polycrystalline blood plasma facies. In the proposed model, algorithms were developed to relate the real and imaginary parts of the complex elements of the Jones matrix to the theziograms of linear and circular birefringence. To experimentally implement these algorithms, a novel optical technology was introduced for polarization-interference registration and phase scanning of the laser speckle field of blood plasma facies. The laser-based Jones-matrix layer-by-layer theziography relies on polarization filtration and the digital recording of interference patterns from microscopic images of blood plasma facies. This process includes digital 2D Fourier reconstruction and phase-by-phase scanning of the object field of complex amplitudes, enabling the acquisition of phase sections of laser polarization-structural speckle field components scattered with varying multiplicities. Jones-matrix images of supramolecular networks, along with their corresponding theziograms of linear and circular birefringence, were obtained for each phase plane. The experimental data derived from laser layer-by-layer Jones-matrix theziography were quantitatively analyzed using two complementary approaches: statistical analysis (central moments of the 1st to 4th orders) and multifractal analysis (spectra of fractal dimension distributions). As a result, the most sensitive markers—namely asymmetry and kurtosis—were identified, highlighting changes in the statistical and scale self-similar structures of the theziograms of linear and circular birefringence in blood plasma facies. The practical aspect of this work is to evaluate the diagnostic potential of the Jones-matrix theziography method for identifying and differentiating changes in the birefringence of supramolecular networks in blood plasma facies caused by the long-term effects of COVID-19. For this purpose, a control group (healthy donors) and three experimental groups of patients, confirmed to have had COVID-19 one-to-three years prior, were formed. Within the framework of evidence-based medicine, the operational characteristics of the method—sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy—were assessed. The method demonstrated excellent accuracy in the differential diagnosis of the long-term effects of COVID-19. This was achieved by statistically analyzing the spectra of fractal dimensions of Jones-matrix theziograms reconstructed in the phase plane of single scattering within the volume of blood plasma facies.

Our work uses a polarization matrix formalism to analyze and algorithmically represent optical anisotropy by open dehydration of blood plasma films. Analytical relations for Jones matrix reconstruction of optical birefringence maps of protein crystal networks of dehydrated biofluid films are found. A technique for 3D step-by-step measurement of the distributions of the elements of the Jones matrix or Jones matrix images (JMI) of the optically birefringent structure of blood plasma films (BPF) has been created. Correlation between JMI maps and corresponding birefringence images of dehydrated BPF and saliva films (SF) obtained from donors and prostate cancer patients was determined. Within the framework of statistical analysis of layer-by-layer optical birefringence maps, the parameters most sensitive to pathological changes in the structure of dehydrated films were found to be the central statistical moments of the 1st to 4th orders. We physically substantiated and experimentally determined the sensitivity of the method of 3D polarization scanning technique of BPF and SF preparations in the diagnosis of endometriosis of uterine tissue.