Development of infrared optical fibre devices and systems for applications in medical diagnosis.

我们的目标是开发一种用于表面组织评估的中红外纤维装置，以帮助医学诊断和可能的皮肤癌早期发现。皮肤癌是所有人类癌症中最常见的，其数量每年都在增加。对于皮肤诊断，目前的参考标准是由经验丰富的皮肤科医生进行目视检查，但这既耗时又依赖于人的判断。中红外光（肉眼不可见）可能在临床上提供重要的诊断能力。皮肤等组织反射的中红外光具有丰富的组织特征。光适用于光谱学技术，即与组织相互作用后的光强度监测。在最近的文献中，有手术切除组织中恶性组织和正常组织的光谱差异的例子。我们面临的挑战是开发一种在体内皮肤上进行组织光谱学的设备。这样的设备可以更容易、更快、更准确地诊断，甚至可能筛查皮肤癌。该设备实际部署的关键技术是有效地将光路由到需要的地方。我们是工程师，正在研究一种基于中红外传输光纤来传输光的实用解决方案。

We aim to develop a mid-infrared fibreoptic device for use in surface tissue evaluation to help medical diagnosis and possible early detection of skin cancer. Skin cancers are the most common of all human cancers and their number is increasing annually. For skin diagnostics, the reference standard at present is visual inspection by an experienced dermatologist, but this is both time-consuming and dependent on human judgement. Mid-infrared light (invisible to the naked eye) potentially provides a clinically important diagnostic capability. The mid-infrared light reflected from tissue like skin is rich in characteristic tissue signatures. The light is amenable to the technique of spectroscopy i.e. monitoring of light intensity after interaction with the tissue. There are examples in the recent literature of spectroscopic differences between malignant and normal tissue in surgically removed tissue. Our challenge is to develop a device for carrying out tissue spectroscopy on skin in vivo. Such a device could lead to easier, faster, more accurate diagnoses and perhaps screening for skin cancer. A key enabling technology for practical deployment of this device is the means of efficiently routing the light to where it is needed. We are engineers working on a practical solution of a device based on mid-infrared-transmitting optical fibres to carry the light.