Methods and systems for spatially identifying abnormal cells

1. A method for identifying abnormal tissue, the method comprising:

calibrating an imaging system by comparing a healthy tissue fluorescence intensity of an individual patient and an abnormal tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to determine a threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to discriminate between abnormal tissue of the individual patient and healthy tissue of the individual patient;

illuminating a surface of the individual patient including a plurality of cells with an excitation light;

detecting a fluorescence signal from the surface of the individual patient, wherein detecting the fluorescence signal from the surface of the individual patient includes placing an optical component of the imaging system in contact with the surface of the individual patient during detection of the fluorescence signal; and

comparing an intensity of the fluorescence signal of the surface of the individual patient to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising outputting an indication of the identified abnormal tissue to a display.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein identifying the abnormal tissue and outputting the indication of the identified abnormal tissue to the display is performed at least 10 times per second.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the indication is a color.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting a fluorescence signal from the healthy tissue of the individual patient.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising illuminating the healthy tissue with the excitation light.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting a fluorescence signal from the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising illuminating the abnormal tissue with the excitation light.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the abnormal tissue is a tumor.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the abnormal tissue is cancerous.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the fluorescence signal from the surface further comprises individually detecting the fluorescence signal from each cell of the plurality of cells.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal of the surface of the individual patient further comprises individually comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal from each cell of the plurality of cells of the individual patient to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the fluorescence signal further comprises detecting the fluorescence signal using a plurality of pixels, and wherein comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal further comprises individually comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal for each pixel of the plurality of pixels to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein a field of view of each pixel is less than or equal to a size of a cell of the plurality of cells.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the cell is a human cancer cell.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein intensities greater than the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient correspond to the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

17. A method for identifying abnormal tissue, the method comprising:

detecting a fluorescence signal from healthy tissue of an individual patient;

detecting a fluorescence signal from the abnormal tissue of the individual patient;

calibrating an imaging system by comparing a healthy tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient and an abnormal tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to determine a threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to discriminate between the abnormal tissue of the individual patient and the healthy tissue of the individual patient;

illuminating a surface of the individual patient including a plurality of cells with an excitation light;

detecting a fluorescence signal from the surface of the individual patient, wherein detecting the fluorescence signal from the surface of the individual patient includes placing an optical component of the imaging system in contact with the surface of the individual patient during detection of the fluorescence signal; and

comparing an intensity of the fluorescence signal of the surface of the individual patient to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising outputting an indication of the identified abnormal tissue to a display.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein identifying the abnormal tissue and outputting the indication of the identified abnormal tissue to the display is performed at least 10 times per second.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the indication is a color.

21. The method of claim 17 , further comprising illuminating the healthy tissue with the excitation light.

22. The method of claim 17 , further comprising illuminating the abnormal tissue with the excitation light.

23. The method of claim 17 , wherein the abnormal tissue is cancerous.

24. The method of claim 17 , wherein detecting the fluorescence signal from the surface further comprises individually detecting the fluorescence signal from each cell of the plurality of cells.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal of the surface of the individual patient further comprises individually comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal from each cell of the plurality of cells of the individual patient to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

26. The method of claim 17 , wherein detecting the fluorescence signal further comprises detecting the fluorescence signal using a plurality of pixels, and wherein comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal further comprises individually comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal for each pixel of the plurality of pixels to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein a field of view of each pixel is less than or equal to a size of a cell of the plurality of cells.

28. The method of claim 27 , wherein the cell is a human cancer cell.

29. The method of claim 17 , wherein intensities greater than the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient correspond to the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

30. A method for identifying abnormal tissue, the method comprising:

detecting a healthy tissue fluorescence signal of an individual patient;

calibrating an imaging system by determining a threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to discriminate between the abnormal tissue of the individual patient and healthy tissue of the individual patient based at least partly on the healthy tissue fluorescence signal of the individual patient;

illuminating a surface of the individual patient including a plurality of cells with an excitation light;

detecting a fluorescence signal from the surface of the individual patient, wherein detecting the fluorescence signal from the surface of the individual patient includes placing an optical component of the imaging system in contact with the surface of the individual patient during detection of the fluorescence signal; and

comparing an intensity of the fluorescence signal of the surface of the individual patient to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

31. The method of claim 30 , further comprising outputting an indication of the identified abnormal tissue to a display.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein identifying the abnormal tissue and outputting the indication of the identified abnormal tissue to the display is performed at least 10 times per second.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein the indication is a color.

34. The method of claim 30 , further comprising illuminating the healthy tissue with the excitation light.

35. The method of claim 30 , wherein the abnormal tissue is a tumor.

36. The method of claim 30 , wherein the abnormal tissue is cancerous.

37. The method of claim 30 , wherein detecting the fluorescence signal from the surface further comprises individually detecting the fluorescence signal from each cell of the plurality of cells.

38. The method of claim 37 , wherein comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal of the surface further comprises individually comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal from each cell of the plurality of cells of the individual patient to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

39. The method of claim 30 , wherein detecting the fluorescence signal from the surface of the individual patient further comprises detecting the fluorescence signal using a plurality of pixels, and wherein comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal further comprises individually comparing the intensity of the fluorescence signal for each pixel of the plurality of pixels to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

40. The method of claim 39 , wherein a field of view of each pixel is less than or equal to a size of a cell of the plurality of cells.

41. The method of claim 40 , wherein the cell is a human cancer cell.

42. The method of claim 30 , wherein intensities greater than the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient correspond to the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

43. The method of claim 1 , wherein the intensity of the fluorescence signal of the surface of the individual patient is compared to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient at a predetermined wavelength to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

44. The method of claim 17 , wherein the intensity of the fluorescence signal of the surface of the individual patient is compared to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient at a predetermined wavelength to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

45. The method of claim 30 , wherein the intensity of the fluorescence signal of the surface of the individual patient is compared to the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient at a predetermined wavelength to identify the abnormal tissue of the individual patient.

46. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the healthy tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient and the abnormal tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient comprises comparing a distribution of the healthy tissue fluorescence intensity and the abnormal tissue fluorescence intensity on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

47. The method of claim 17 , wherein comparing the healthy tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient and the abnormal tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient comprises comparing a distribution of the healthy tissue fluorescence intensity and the abnormal tissue fluorescence intensity on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

48. The method of claim 30 , wherein determining the threshold fluorescence intensity of the individual patient comprises comparing the healthy tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient and an abnormal tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient.

49. The method of claim 48 , wherein comparing the healthy tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient and the abnormal tissue fluorescence intensity of the individual patient comprises comparing a distribution of the healthy tissue fluorescence intensity and the abnormal tissue fluorescence intensity on a pixel-by-pixel basis.