Raman/OCT probe for real-time assessment of oral health status

描述（由申请人提供）：Physical Sciences，Inc. (PSI)与马萨诸塞州剑桥的福赛斯研究所合作，提出研究组合的拉曼显微光谱-光学相干断层扫描（OCT）成像用于蛀牙、裂纹和牙周病的体内诊断的用途。拉曼和OCT都是强大的技术，在人体组织诊断方面取得了成功，同时避免了电离辐射暴露的需要。虽然拉曼显微光谱用于区分生长在生物膜中的不同种类的细菌，例如血链球菌和变形链球菌，它们是口腔菌斑的主要成分，但OCT允许可视化软组织炎症以及蛀牙和裂缝。因此，可以利用这两种光学技术的互补能力来提供临床上全面的参数集，以更可靠地诊断口腔健康状况。因此，这项技术可以帮助临床医生提供更可靠的牙齿病变诊断，帮助他们更好地选择需要立即治疗的区域。对于这种功能强大的双模成像方法的初步调查，提出了一种新的方法，这两种成像方式结合到一个手持探头。在第一阶段，我们建议调查使用拉曼和OCT在相同的光学布局，并初步测试这种双成像方法离体切除的组织标本。根据第一阶段的结论，仪器和手持式探头将在第二阶段进行改进，并在福赛斯对口腔生物膜降解和牙齿裂缝或龋齿的患者进行测试。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI), in collaboration with The Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA proposes to investigate the use of combined Raman microspectroscopy-Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging for in vivo diagnosis of tooth decay, cracks, and periodontal diseases. Both Raman and OCT are powerful technologies with proven success in human tissue diagnosis while avoiding the need for ionizing radiation exposures. While Raman microspectroscopy is used to discriminate between different species of bacteria grown in biofilms, such as Streptococcus sanguinis and Streptococcus mutans, which are major components of the oral plaque, OCT allows for visualizing soft tissue inflammations, as well as tooth decay and cracks. Therefore, the complementary capabilities of these two optical technologies may be exploited to offer a clinically comprehensive set of parameters for more reliable diagnosis of oral health status. Thus, this technology could help clinicians to provide more reliable diagnosis of dental lesions by assisting them in better selecting areas that need immediate treatment. For a preliminary investigation of this powerful dual-mode imaging approach, a novel method for combining these two imaging modalities into a hand-held probe is proposed. In Phase I we propose to investigate the use of Raman and OCT within the same optical layout and preliminarily test this dual imaging approach ex vivo on excised tissue specimens. Based on Phase I conclusions, both the instrument and the hand-held probe will be improved in Phase II and tested at Forsyth on patients with oral biofilm degradation and tooth cracks or decay.