Confocal foveated endomicroscope for the detection of esophageal carcinoma.

By mimicking the variable resolution of the human eye, a newly designed foveated endomicroscopic objective shows the potential to improve current endoscopic based techniques of identifying abnormal tissue in the esophagus and colon. The prototype miniature foveated objective is imaged with a confocal microscope to provide large field of view images combined with a high resolution central region to rapidly observe morphological structures associated with cancer development in a mouse model.

Vital-dye-enhanced multimodal imaging of neoplastic progression in a mouse model of oral carcinogenesis.

In this longitudinal study, a mouse model of 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide chemically induced tongue carcinogenesis was used to assess the ability of optical imaging with exogenous and endogenous contrast to detect neoplastic lesions in a heterogeneous mucosal surface. Widefield autofluorescence and fluorescence images of intact 2-NBDG-stained and proflavine-stained tissues were acquired at multiple time points in the carcinogenesis process. Confocal fluorescence images of transverse fresh tissue slices from the same specimens were acquired to investigate how changes in tissue microarchitecture affect widefield fluorescence images of intact tissue.

Advances in molecular imaging: targeted optical contrast agents for cancer diagnostics.

Over the last three decades, our understanding of the molecular changes associated with cancer development and progression has advanced greatly. This has led to new cancer therapeutics targeted against specific molecular pathways; such therapies show great promise to reduce mortality, in part by enabling physicians to tailor therapy for patients based on a molecular profile of their tumor. Unfortunately, the tools for definitive cancer diagnosis - light microscopic examination of biopsied tissue stained with nonspecific dyes - remain focused on the analysis of tissue ex vivo.