Endoscopic Imaging Devices Using Ultrasonic Micromotors

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案是一个合作的多学科项目，涉及华盛顿大学工程学院和医学院以及宾夕法尼亚州立大学工程学院的研究人员。我们的目标是开发超声波微型马达和新型内窥镜成像设备；利用超声波微电机进行光束扫描和焦点跟踪。内窥镜成像装置；集成光学相干断层扫描（OCT）与共聚焦显微镜，实现内部器官在细胞水平的高分辨率成像。许多癌症起源于上皮层，并以转移前组织和细胞结构的变化为特征。一项能够在细胞水平上对身体内部组织进行成像的技术的发展，可能使癌症在早期阶段得到检测。OCT是一种新兴的医学诊断技术，能够在体内实时成像组织微观结构。

DESCRIPTION (Provided by Applicant): This proposal is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary program involving researchers at the College of Engineering and School of Medicine at the University of Washington, and the School of Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. Our objective is to develop ultrasonic micromotors and novel endoscopic imaging devices ;apable of beam scanning and focus tracking using the ultrasonic micromotors. The endoscopic imaging device ;an integrate optical coherence tomography (OCT) with confocal microscopy, enabling high resolution imaging of internal organs at the cellular level. Many cancers arise from epithelial layers and are characterized by changes in tissue and cellular structure prior to metastasis. Development of a technology that enables imaging of tissues internal to the body at cellular level could permit cancer detection at early stages. OCT is an emerging medical diagnostic technique capable of imaging tissue microstructures in vivo and in real time. Conventional OCT is essentially a low numerical aperture (N.A.) confocal microscope with the axial resolution enhanced by using coherence gating. OCT imaging resolution can be improved when high N.A. beam-focusing optics are employed. High-resolution imaging of internal organs with high N.A. OCT/confocal microscopy requires novel miniature scanners that can be delivered endoscopically to the internal organs to scan the beam and track the focus. The hypothesis of this proposal is that novel ultrasonic micromotors that can be integrated within a catheter/endoscope enable beam scanning as well as focus tracking, thus permitting cellular level imaging. The specific aims of this exploratory proposal are: 1) to develop ultrasonic micromotors and explore the feasibility of using the micromotor as a scanner for OCT imaging catheters/endoscopes; 2) to explore a focus tracking mechanism using the micromotor and to develop a spiral beam scanning scheme to increase imaging coverage; 3) to develop a prototype micromotor-based imaging catheter/endoscope with a focus tracking capability and explore the unification of OCT and confocal microscopy within the scanning catheter/endoscope; to characterize the catheter/endoscope performance and demonstrate high-resolution imaging using tissue phantoms and in vitro biological tissues; 4) to investigate the feasibility of the prototype catheter/endoscope for in vivo cellular-level imaging of the esophagus in an animal model. If successful, this technology could enable detection of premalignant conditions (such as dysplasia) or early cancers.