Method of using the detection of early increase in microvascular blood content to distinguish between adenomatous and hyperplastic polyps

A method of providing an indication that a living polyp within a human body is either adenomatous or hyperplastic, comprising:

• inserting an illumination probe such that a light source within the illumination probe is disposed in a location that is at a surface of a colon and contains the polyp;
• illuminating, at the location, tissue of the colon and microvasculature therein with light from the light source that is emitted from the probe around the polyp;
• detecting interacted light that results from the illuminating of the tissue as detected data, wherein the interacted light comprises light that has interacted with blood in the microvasculature that is within the tissue of the colon;
• estimating at least one of blood content and blood flow in the microvasculature using the detected data to obtain an estimation of the at least one of the blood content and the blood flow;
• and
• identifying the polyp as being either adenomatous or hyperplastic based on the estimation of the at least one of the blood content and the blood flow, the identifying of the polyp as being either adenomatous or hyperplastic comprising determining whether there is an increase in the estimation of the at least one of the blood content and the blood flow in the microvasculature.