Optical methods and systems for rapid screening of the cervix

A diagnostic system for producing a map of the cervix according to pathological classes, comprising:

• a source of optical radiation which induces at least one of a fluorescence and backscatter response in cervical tissue, wherein the source is scanned in a predetermined pattern over tissue sites of at least a portion of the cervix,
• a detector which detects the response induced in the cervical tissue and produces a response signal, and
• a processor which compares the response signal with reference signals obtained from cervical tissue samples of known pathology by computing a distance between the response signal and the reference signals from the different tissue sites,
• wherein the reference signals are grouped into at least two pathological classes and the cervical tissue producing the response signal at the different tissue sites is assigned to the class which produces the smallest distance, and the assigned classes are rendered for the different tissue sites to produce the map of the cervix.

A method of optically classifying cervical tissue into pathological classes, comprising:

• exciting the cervical tissue with optical radiation and inducing at least one of a fluorescence and backscatter response in the cervical tissue,
• detecting the response induced in the cervical tissue and producing a response signal,
• comparing the response signal with reference signals obtained from cervical tissue samples of known pathology and grouped into at least two pathological classes,
• computing a distance between the response signal and the reference signals, and
• assigning the cervical tissue to the class which produces the response signal having the smallest distance.

A method of optically classifying cervical tissue into pathological classes, comprising:

• exciting the cervical tissue with optical radiation and detecting a fluorescence response in the cervical tissue,
• comparing the fluorescence response with a fluorescence reference response obtained from cervical tissue samples of known pathology and grouped into at least two pathological classes by computing a first distance between the fluorescence response and the reference response and assigning the cervical tissue to the class which produces the response signal having the smallest first distance,
• detecting a backscatter response from the cervical tissue,
• comparing the backscatter response with a backscatter reference response obtained from cervical tissue samples of known pathology and grouped into the at least two pathological classes by computing a second distance between the backscatter response and the backscatter reference response and assigning the cervical tissue to the class which produces the backscatter response signal having the smallest second distance, and
• if the class of the cervical tissue based on the first distance is identical to the class of the cervical tissue based on the second distance, classifying the cervical tissue into the class representing the first and second distance, and
• if the class of the cervical tissue based on the first distance is different from the class of the cervical tissue based on the second distance, combining fluorescence response with the backscatter response and computing a third distance between the combined response and a respective combined fluorescence and backscatter reference response and assigning the cervical tissue to the class which produces the combined response signal having the smallest third distance.