Spectral diagnosis of diseased tissue
First Claim
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1. A method of diagnosing gastrointestinal tissue to determine the presence of abnormal tissue comprising:
- exciting fluorophores within a portion of gastrointestinal tissue with light at a predetermined wavelength which causes the fluorophores within the tissue to emit autofluorescent radiation of a plurality of wavelengths without the presence of a fluorescence enhancing agent;
detecting the autofluorescent radiation emitted by the fluorophores within the tissue in response to excitation from the light to provide an emission spectrum;
forming an attenuation spectrum and comDarinq the attenuation spectrum with the emission spectrum to identify fluorophores within the tissue; and
analyzing the emission spectrum to determine the presence of abnormal tissue within the portion of tissue containing the excited fluorophores by comparing the emission spectrum to a reference emission for normal tissue at a plurality of predetermined wavelengths.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for diagnosing the condition of gastrointestinal tissue. The method and apparatus excite fluorophores within a portion of gastrointestinal tissue with a laser to cause the fluorophores to emit fluorescent radiation. The presence of abnormal tissue is then determined by detecting the radiation emitted by the excited fluorophores and comparing the emitted radiation to a reference emission for fluorophores within normal tissue at predetermined wavelengths.
358 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of diagnosing gastrointestinal tissue to determine the presence of abnormal tissue comprising:
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exciting fluorophores within a portion of gastrointestinal tissue with light at a predetermined wavelength which causes the fluorophores within the tissue to emit autofluorescent radiation of a plurality of wavelengths without the presence of a fluorescence enhancing agent; detecting the autofluorescent radiation emitted by the fluorophores within the tissue in response to excitation from the light to provide an emission spectrum; forming an attenuation spectrum and comDarinq the attenuation spectrum with the emission spectrum to identify fluorophores within the tissue; and analyzing the emission spectrum to determine the presence of abnormal tissue within the portion of tissue containing the excited fluorophores by comparing the emission spectrum to a reference emission for normal tissue at a plurality of predetermined wavelengths. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of determining a function for diagnosing gastrointestinal tissue comprising:
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irradiating fluorophores within a portion of gastrointestinal tissue with light of selected wavelength from a laser; inducing autofluorescence of the fluorophores within the portion of tissue; detecting the autofluorescent radiation emitted by the fluorophores within the tissue; generating an emission spectrum from the detected radiation; determining a difference spectrum by calculating the difference between the emission spectrum and a reference spectrum; selecting a first wavelength from the difference spectrum where the irradiated portion has a relative maximum fluorescence in relation to surroundinq wavelengths; selecting a second wavelength from the difference spectrum where the reference spectrum has a relative maximum fluorescence in relation to surroundinq wavelengths; and determining a diagnostic function from the first and second wavelengths to differentiate abnormal from normal tissue. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A diagnostic probe to determine the presence of abnormal tissue comprising:
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a source of laser radiation having a wavelength of between about 370 nm and about 450 nm; a fiber optic probe having a plurality of optical fibers such that a first fiber is coupled to the radiation source at a proximal end and directs the radiation onto an irradiated area of tissue containing fluorophores adjacent a distal end of the first fiber to induce autofluorescence of the fluorophores, the plurality of fibers including a collection fiber that is positioned relative to the plurality of fibers to receive autofluorescent radiation from only the fluorophores within the irradiated area of tissue; an analyzer coupled to a proximal end of the collection fiber that receives and analyzes the fluorescent radiation from the fluorophores within the irradiated area at wavelenqths lonqer than 400 nm. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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Specification