3D-reconstruction by polarization imaging in endoscopy

Polarization cameras are a relatively new technology to capture, assess and analyze the properties of shiny surfaces and tissues in real-time. By making use of the acquired polarization parameters it is possible to recover 3D-surfaces from glossy tissues and organs via the so-called Shape-from-Polarization technique. Thus potential applications of these possibilities are scenarios like endoscopic MIS, SILS and NOTES interventions, in which monocular endoscopes provide limited depth perception. This paper illustrates the principle of the Shape-from- Polarization approach for surface reconstruction by using the Shape-from-Shapelets method. The presented techniques have been validated by polarization images from test phantoms as well as for approximating a 3D height map of a pig liver phantom.