Methods and Systems for Tissue Analysis

• US 20120022381A1
• Filed: 10/03/2011
• Published: 01/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The General Hospital Corporation (Mass General Brigham, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The General Hospital Corporation (Mass General Brigham, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tearney, Guillermo J., Bouma, Brett E.
• Granted Patent: US 9,282,931 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/479
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00082 Balloons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0615 for radial illumination
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/07 using light-conductive means, e.g. optical fibres
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0066 Optical coherence imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0068 Confocal scanning
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0075 by spectroscopy, i.e. measuring spectra, e.g. Raman spectroscopy, infrared absorption spectroscopy A61B5/0071 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0084 for introduction into the body, e.g. by catheters A61B5/1459 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02007 Evaluating blood vessel condition, e.g. elasticity, compliance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6885 Monitoring or controlling sensor contact pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7207 of noise induced by motion artifacts
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7257 using Fourier transforms
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/49 within a body or fluid

Abstract

The invention relates to methods and systems to optically analyze samples such as tissue based on speckle patterns of microscopic motion, such as Brownian motion.

Claims

1-61. -61. (canceled)

62. A method of analyzing a tissue structure, comprising:

illumination a tissue with at least one of a coherent light or a partially coherent light;

receiving a further light reflected from the tissue and forming a series of speckle patterns; and

obtaining speckle pattern data at time intervals sufficient to measure a microscopic motion within the tissue structure or with a tissue adjacent to the structure; and

assessing the tissue structure by analyzing spatial characteristics of the speckle pattern data to determine at least one of structural characteristics or biomechanical characteristics of the tissue structure, wherein the tissue structure is a fluid.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein the microscopic motion is at least one of a Brownian motion or a motion of cells or cellular organelles.

64. The method of claim 62, wherein the illuminating procedure comprises providing the coherent or partially coherent light from a light source onto the tissue.

65. The method of claim 64, further comprising providing a device which includes the light source in direct contact with the tissue.

66. The method of claim 62, further comprising providing a detector which is configured to detect a far field speckle from the further light, and which is located farther than one wavelength of light from the tissue.

67. The method of claim 62, wherein further comprising providing a detector which is configured to detect a near field speckle from the further light, and which is located within one wavelength of light from the tissue.

68. The method of claim 62, wherein the analyzing procedure comprises comparing each of the series of speckle patterns to a series of reference speckle patterns, and quantifying temporal correlation differences between the speckle patterns and the reference patterns.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein the analyzing procedure further comprises digitizing each of the speckle patterns, and the quantifying subprocedure comprises evaluating a cross-correlation between the speckle patterns and the reference patterns.

70. The method of claim 69, wherein the analyzing procedure further comprises determining a decorrelation rate for the speckle patterns.

71. The method of claim 68, wherein the analyzing procedure further comprises digitizing each of the speckle patterns, and the quantifying substep comprises evaluating a maximum cross-correlation between the speckle patterns and the reference patterns.

72. The method of claim 62, wherein the analyzing procedure further comprises analyzing spatial characteristics of the speckle patterns to determine structural characteristics of the tissue.

73. The method of claim 72, wherein the illuminating procedure comprises illuminating multiple locations of the tissue in succession, the receiving step comprises forming a separate series of speckle patterns for each respective section of the tissue, and the analyzing step comprises analyzing each separate series of the speckle patterns and comparing the separate series to determine structural differences between the respective locations of the tissue.

74. The method of claim 62, wherein the fluid is blood.

75. An apparatus for analyzing tissue, comprising:

a first arrangement configured to illuminate a tissue with at least one of a coherent light or a partially coherent light;

a second arrangement configured to receive a further light reflected from the tissue and from a series of speckle patterns; and

a third arrangement configured to analyze changes in the speckle patterns at time intervals sufficient to measure changes caused by a microscopic motion of objects within the tissue, wherein the tissue is a fluid.

76. The apparatus of claim 75, further comprising a fourth arrangement configured to compensate for a macroscopic motion to isolate the microscopic motion.

77. The apparatus of claim 75, further comprising a fifth arrangement configured to obtain speckle pattern data at time intervals sufficient to measure microscopic motion within a lipid pool within an atherosclerotic plaque of the tissue;

and assess the atherosclerotic plaque'"'"'s vulnerability to a rupture from an amount of the microscopic motion.

78. The apparatus of claim 75, wherein the third arrangement is capable of analyzing the changes by at least one of (i) measuring biomechanical properties of the tissue in three dimensions, (ii) determining a collagen content of the tissue, or (iii) determining viscosity of a lipid pool within the tissue.

79. The apparatus of claim 75, wherein the fluid is blood.

80. An apparatus for analyzing a tissue structure, comprising:

a first arrangement configured to illuminate a tissue with at least one of a coherent light or a partially coherent light;

a second arrangement configured to receive a further light reflected from the tissue and form a series of speckle patterns; and

a third arrangement configured to obtain speckle pattern data at time intervals sufficient to measure a microscopic motion within the tissue structure or with a tissue adjacent to the structure; and

a fourth arrangement configured to assess the tissue structure by analyzing spatial characteristics of the speckle pattern data to determine at least one of structural characteristics or biomechanical characteristics of the tissue structure, wherein the tissue structure is a fluid.