Dynamic illumination to identify tissue type

1. An imaging system, comprising:

a light source including one or more light emitters to emit a plurality of wavelengths of light;

a camera coupled to receive the light reflected back from tissue in or on a body;

a database including reflectance data for a plurality of tissue types of the body; and

a controller coupled to the light source, the database, and the camera, wherein the controller includes logic that when executed by the controller causes the imaging system to perform operations, including:

in response to the camera receiving the light reflected back from the tissue, generating image data with the camera;

receiving the image data from the camera with the controller;

comparing, with the controller, the image data to the reflectance data in the database;

determining a tissue type in the image data in response to comparing the image data to the reflectance data, wherein determining the tissue type includes calculating a probability that the image data includes the tissue type using the image data and the reflectance data;

changing the plurality of wavelengths of light emitted from the light source from a first emission profile to a second emission profile based upon a probability threshold of tissue identification;

combinatorially searching through multiple different emission profiles to select one of the multiple different emission profiles that provides a highest identification probability; and

using the selected one of the multiple different emission profiles to identify the tissue type.

2. The imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the camera and the light source are disposed within an endoscope, and wherein the light source and the camera are positioned to emit the light and receive the light, respectively, at a distal end of the endoscope.

3. The imaging system of claim 1 , wherein comparing the image data to the reflectance data includes calculating a distance in a color space between reflectance data points in the reflectance data and image data points in the image data.

4. The imaging system of claim 3 , wherein the distance is a Mahalanobis distance from a cluster of the reflectance data points.

5. The imaging system of claim 1 , wherein determining the tissue type includes

calculating a probability that the image data includes the tissue type using the image data and the reflectance data.

6. The imaging system of claim 5 , wherein the controller further includes logic that when executed by the controller causes the imaging system to perform operations, including:

preselecting a first emission profile for the plurality of wavelengths of light emitted from the light source based upon a selected surgical procedure or a specific tissue type expected to be encountered during the selected surgical procedure.

7. The imaging system of claim 5 , wherein changing the plurality of wavelengths emitted from the light source from the first emission profile to the second emission profile includes searching a spectrum of wavelengths to arrive at the second emission profile.

8. The imaging system of claim 7 , wherein the controller includes a graphics processing unit, and wherein the searching is performed on the graphics processing unit.

9. The imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising a display coupled to the controller to receive augmented image data derived from the image data, wherein the augmented image data indicates the tissue type; and

wherein the controller further includes logic that when executed by the controller causes the imaging system to perform operations, including:

displaying an augmented image on the display indicating the tissue type.

10. A method of determining a tissue type, comprising:

emitting light having a first emission profile with a light source including one or more light emitters;

receiving the light reflected back from tissue in a body with a camera;

outputting image data from the camera to a controller;

comparing the image data to reflectance data in a database using the controller coupled to the camera and the database;

determining a tissue type in the image data in response to comparing the image data to the reflectance data, wherein determining the tissue type includes calculating a first identification probability that the image data includes the tissue type using the image data and the reflectance data;

changing the light emitted from the light source from the first emission profile to a second emission profile based upon a probability threshold of tissue identification;

combinatorially searching through multiple different emission profiles, including the first and second emission profiles, to select one of the multiple different emission profiles that provides a highest identification probability; and

using the selected one of the multiple different emission profiles to identify the tissue type.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein emitting the light includes emitting the light from a distal end of an endoscope, and wherein receiving the light includes receiving the light through the distal end of the endoscope.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein comparing the image data to reflectance data includes calculating a distance in a color space between reflectance data points in the reflectance data and image data points in the image data.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the distance is the Mahalanobis distance from a cluster of the reflectance data points.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein calculating the first probability includes using Bayes' theorem.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein iteratively searching includes using a graphics processing unit included in the controller to calculate identification probabilities, including the first identification probability, associated with the multiple different emission profiles.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising displaying an augmented image on a display, wherein the controller is coupled to receive augmented image data derived from the image data, and wherein the augmented image data indicates the tissue type.

17. The imaging system of claim 1 , wherein changing the plurality of wavelengths of light emitted from the light source from a first emission profile to a second emission profile comprises:

changing the plurality of wavelengths of light emitted from the light source from the first emission profile to the second emission profile in response to the tissue being identified as multiple different tissue types with substantially equal probabilities within a threshold range to improve disambiguation between the multiple different tissue types.