Optical Coherence Microscopy for Endoscopic Diagnostics

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案的假设是光学相干显微镜（OCM）（OCT与共焦显微镜的组合）可以实现组织形态的细胞分辨率内窥镜成像，从而显著提高任一技术用于早期肿瘤内窥镜检测的能力。允许在细胞水平上对癌前病变进行真实的实时体内成像的内窥镜“光学活检”技术将允许传统切除活检的图像引导，从而潜在地减少采样误差并提高灵敏度。具体目标是：1）发展光学相干显微镜（OCM）技术，用于未染色组织的细胞成像。2)通过离体临床成像研究，研究OCM用于检测人体组织中的早期肿瘤细胞变化。3)基于微机电系统（MEMS）扫描技术开发用于OCM成像的小型柔性内窥镜。4)通过在体动物成像实验对柔性OCM内窥镜进行了研究。这些研究旨在证明内镜检测早期肿瘤的基本新进展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The hypothesis of this proposal is that optical coherence microscopy (OCM), a combination of OCT with confocal microscopy, can enable cellular resolution endoscopic imaging of tissue morphology, thereby dramatically advancing the capabilities of either technique for endoscopic detection of early stage neoplasms. An endoscopic "optical biopsy" technique that allows for real time, in vivo imaging of precancerous changes at the cellular level would allow image guidance of traditional excisional biopsy, potentially reducing sampling error and improving sensitivity. The specific aims are: 1) Develop optical coherence microscopy (OCM) technology for cellular imaging of unstained tissues. 2) Investigate OCM for detecting early neoplastic cellular alterations in human tissues through ex vivo clinical imaging studies. 3) Develop miniaturized flexible endoscopes for OCM imaging based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) scanning technology. 4) Validate flexible OCM endoscopes through in vivo animal imaging experiments. These studies combined seek to demonstrate fundamental new advances for endoscopic detection of early stage neoplasms.