Design and Performance of a Multi-Point Scan Confocal Microendoscope.

Confocal fluorescence microendoscopy provides high-resolution cellular-level imaging via a minimally invasive procedure, but requires fast scanning to achieve real-time imaging . Ideal confocal imaging performance is obtained with a point scanning system, but the scan rates required for biomedical imaging can be difficult to achieve. By scanning a line of illumination in one direction in conjunction with a stationary confocal slit aperture, very high image acquisition speeds can be achieved, but at the cost of a reduction in image quality.

In vivo imaging of ovarian tissue using a novel confocal microlaparoscope.

Objective: The objective of the study was to develop a clinical confocal microlaparoscope for imaging ovary epithelium in vivo with the long-term objective of diagnosing cancer in vivo.

Study Design: A confocal microlaparoscope was developed and used to image the ovaries of 21 patients in vivo using fluorescein sodium and acridine orange as the fluorescent contrast agents.

Results: The device was tested in vivo and demonstrated to be safe and function as designed.

Clinical confocal microlaparoscope for real-time in vivo optical biopsies.

Successful treatment of cancer is highly dependent on the stage at which it is diagnosed. Early diagnosis, when the disease is still localized at its origin, results in very high cure rates-even for cancers that typically have poor prognosis. Biopsies are often used for diagnosis of disease.

Monte Carlo characterization of parallelized fluorescence confocal systems imaging in turbid media.

We characterize and compare the axial and lateral performance of fluorescence confocal systems imaging in turbid media. The aperture configurations studied are a single pinhole, a slit, a Nipkow disk, and a linear array of pinholes. Systems with parallelized apertures are used clinically because they enable high-speed and real-time imaging.

Multispectral confocal microendoscope for in vivo and in situ imaging.

We describe the design and operation of a multispectral confocal microendoscope. This fiber-based fluorescence imaging system consists of a slit-scan confocal microscope coupled to an imaging catheter that is designed to be minimally invasive and allow for cellular level imaging in vivo. The system can operate in two imaging modes.