Autofluorescence imaging system for endoscopy
First Claim
1. A fluorescence imaging system comprising:
- a light source for producing excitation light that induces visible fluorescence in tissue and a reference light;
an optical combiner that combines said excitation light and said reference light onto a common optical path, said combined light being coupled into an optical guide that delivers the combined light to the tissue such that a variation in a normalized intensity of the reference light and a normalized intensity of the excitation light is less than 20% at any point in a wavefront along the optical path between the combiner and a tissue surface;
an image sensor that detects a fluorescence image and a reference image of the tissue; and
a data processor that processes the fluorescence image and said reference image to produce a processed output image of the tissue.
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Abstract
A system and method for imaging tissue autofluorescence through a video endoscope is described, comprising a light source capable of providing both ultraviolet light capable of inducing tissue autofluorescence and visible light which induces little or no autofluorescence, an optical system to deliver both wavelength bands to the tissue with the same apparent spatial and angular intensity distribution, a means for digitally acquiring the resulting, visible fluorescence and visible reflectance images using a single imaging detector at the distal tip of the endoscope and a means for digitally processing said images to generate a final, false-color image for display which indicates regions of tissue dysplasia. This system can either be added on to an existing video endoscope or integrated into its structure. The combined system can be electronically switched between normal white light imaging and fluorescence imaging.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A fluorescence imaging system comprising:
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a light source for producing excitation light that induces visible fluorescence in tissue and a reference light;
an optical combiner that combines said excitation light and said reference light onto a common optical path, said combined light being coupled into an optical guide that delivers the combined light to the tissue such that a variation in a normalized intensity of the reference light and a normalized intensity of the excitation light is less than 20% at any point in a wavefront along the optical path between the combiner and a tissue surface;
an image sensor that detects a fluorescence image and a reference image of the tissue; and
a data processor that processes the fluorescence image and said reference image to produce a processed output image of the tissue. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for imaging tissue fluorescence comprising:
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providing excitation light with a first wavelength;
providing a reference light having a second wavelength;
combining said excitation light and said reference light onto a common optical path such that a variation in a normalized intensity of the reference light and a normalized intensity of the excitation light is less than 20% at any point in a wavefront along the optical path between a combiner that combines the excitation light and the reference light and a tissue surface;
detecting a fluorescence image of the tissue due to the said excitation light and a reference image of the tissue due to reflected reference light; and
processing said fluorescence image together with said reference image to produce an output image of the tissue. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
and detecting images with color-sensitive image sensor, the sensor having a blue channel detecting an autofluorescence image and a red channel detecting the reference image.
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17. A method for imaging tissue fluorescence comprising:
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providing excitation light having a wavelength in a range of 300 nm to 420 nm;
providing a reference light;
combining said excitation light and said reference light onto a common optical path such that an intensity of the excitation light varies less than 20% relative to a normalized intensity of the reference light at any point along the optical path;
detecting a fluorescence image of the tissue due to the said excitation light and a reference image of the tissue due to reflected reference light with an imaging sensor at a distal end of an endoscopic probe; and
processing said fluorescence image and said reference image to produce an output image of the tissue. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification