GCR: Meta-Optical Angioscopes for Image-Guided Therapies in Previously Inaccessible Locations

血管镜是一种超薄且灵活的前视光学成像设备，用于指导心血管系统的临床程序。以心脏病发作和中风为首的心血管疾病是美国和全球的主要死亡原因。由于传统光学的基本限制，这些血管镜目前是由一千多根玻璃光纤制成的，这是一种已有50年历史的技术，其分辨率太低，刚度太高，无法用于重要的潜在应用。为了达到临床上重要的大脑和心脏目标，血管镜需要更灵活，刚性尖端的长度必须缩短到只有人类头发宽度的几倍。神经外科医生手中的这种令人难以置信的灵活血管镜可以蜿蜒进入大脑深处去除血凝块，这可以帮助中风患者。此外，心脏病专家可以使用该设备通过堵塞血管的斑块沉积，并准确地对冠状动脉进行一系列治疗，以应对心脏病发作。降低中风和心脏病发病率和死亡率的潜力可以使许多人受益。这个研究项目是纳米光子学和生物工程的结合，旨在通过使用新兴的光学硬件和人工智能支持的软件图像重建，开发出能够实现这种超微型敏捷血管镜的技术。该项目将来自学术界和初创公司的科学家和工程师与医疗专业人员聚集在一起，以解决这一影响巨大的问题。超薄且灵活的前视内窥镜，也被称为血管镜，对于治疗许多心血管疾病至关重要，包括中风和心脏病发作，这两种疾病都是美国的主要死亡原因之一。目前基于传统屈光光学的医疗仪器体积太大，无法在大脑深处和病变的冠状动脉中使用。为了到达脑卒中的位置，血管镜中的刚性尖端长度必须缩小到亚毫米长度。新兴的纳米光子学和超材料技术有可能实现这种具有临床意义的小型化。元光学为设计全新类型的光学元件提供了许多自由度。多尺度电磁仿真与优化技术相结合，已经实现了集成多光学元件功能的元光学设计。与计算后端相结合，元光学也可以捕获全彩色的无像差图像。该项目结合了基于机器学习的计算逆方法、半导体纳米制造和医疗仪器技术（包括高级盐水冲洗），旨在创建一个孔径为250微米、尖端厚度为100微米的微成像系统，该系统将以细胞分辨率在100度视场中捕获全彩图像。除了来自基础科学和工程学科的学术研究人员外，该项目还包括与元光学和内窥镜商业化创业公司相关的合作伙伴，以及专门从事心血管疾病的微创和介入外科医生。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Angioscopes are ultrathin and flexible forward-viewing optical imaging devices that guide clinical procedures in the cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular disease, led by heart attack and stroke, are the leading cause of death in the US and globally. Due to basic limitations of conventional optics, these angioscopes are currently made with a bundle of over a thousand glass optical fibers, a 50-year-old technology that provides resolution that is too low and a stiffness that is too high for important potential applications. To reach clinically significant targets in the brain and heart, the angioscope needs to be more flexible and the rigid tip length must be reduced to only a few times the width of a human hair. Such an incredibly agile angioscope in the hands of a neurosurgeon could snake its way deep into the brain to remove blood clots, which can help a stroke patient. Further, a cardiologist could use this device to pass vessel-clogging plaque deposits and accurately apply a range of therapies in coronary arteries in response to heart attacks. The potential to reduce morbidity and mortality from stroke and heart attacks could benefit many individuals. This research project at the interface between nanophotonics and bioengineering aims to develop the technology that could enable such ultra-miniature agile angioscopes by using emerging optical hardware and artificial intelligence-enabled software image reconstruction. The project brings together scientists and engineers from academia and startup companies with medical professionals to solve this high-impact problem. Ultrathin and flexible forward-viewing endoscopes, also known as angioscopes, are of critical importance for treating many cardiovascular diseases, including stroke and heart attacks, both of which are among the leading causes of death in the United States. Current medical instruments based on traditional refractive optics are too bulky to be used deep in the brain and in diseased coronary arteries. To reach locations of stroke in the brain, the rigid tip length in an angioscope must be reduced to sub-millimeter length scale. Emerging nanophotonics and metamaterial technology have the potential to achieve such clinically significant miniaturization. Meta-optics provide many degrees of freedom to design completely new types of optical elements. Multi-scale electromagnetic simulation coupled with optimization techniques have already enabled design of a meta-optic combining functionalities of multiple optical elements. In conjunction with a computational backend, meta-optics that also capture aberration-free images in full color should be possible. Combining computational inverse methods based on machine learning, semiconductor nanomanufacturing, and techniques from medical instrumentation, including advanced saline flushing, this project aims to create a micro-imaging system with 250-micron aperture and 100-micron rigid tip thickness, which will capture full-color images in a 100-degree field of view with cellular resolution. Along with academic researchers from basic science and engineering disciplines, this project includes partners associated with startups commercializing meta-optics and endoscopes as well as minimally invasive, interventional surgeons specializing in cardiovascular diseases.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.