双模切换显微内窥镜成像系统设计及应用

Design and applied research of dual-mode switching endomicroscopic imaging system

为了将荧光分子成像技术应用于临床进行手术导航、肿瘤边界识别、在体显微病理诊断等,设计了一种双模切换显微内窥镜成像系统,采用荧光素钠作为荧光分子探针,高亮度蓝光LED光源作为荧光激发光源,通过切换内窥成像探头,实现了两个模态下的成像:宽场白光内窥成像模式下进行手术导航,荧光分子成像进行病变肿瘤边界识别;显微内窥成像模式下,进行在体显微病理分析,确定肿瘤良恶性及其种类。本文研究了双模切换显微内窥镜成像系统的光学特性,搭建系统并测试了相关的性能指标,展示了该系统在小鼠肝脏多模式内窥成像下的效果。研究结果表明:宽场内窥成像可以实现组织颜色和边界特征识别,显微内镜成像系统可以实现分辨率达4.4μm的组织显微成像,能够满足在体肿瘤实时手术导航和显微病理诊断的临床需求。

Clinical studies have shown that fluorescent molecular imaging technology is extensively utilized in intraoperative navigation,tumor boundary recognition,in vivo microscopic pathology diagnosis,etc. However,identification of tumor boundaries through in vivo biopsy remains a challenging task owing to the slight discrepancy between tumor tissue and surrounding normal tissue in optical imaging. To better distinguish tumor tissue and observe histopathology in clinical examination,a dual-mode switching endomicroscopic system was proposed in this paper,which consisted of wide-field imaging for surgical navigation and microscopic imaging for performing tumor boundary recognition. The system employed sodium fluorescein as a fluorescent molecular probe and an in-house developed blue LED with high-brightness as an excitation source. Fast switching between two modes was an advantageous design for clinical surgery to effectively determine benign and malignant tumors during in vivo microscopic pathology analysis. This paper examined the feasibility of the dual-mode imaging system for mouse liver inspection in vivo. The experimental results show that dual-mode imaging can identify tissue color and boundary features with a resolution of 4.4 μm. The system can meet the clinical demands of real-time surgical navigation and microscopic pathological diagnosis of in vivo tumors.