Confocal fluorescence microendoscopy of bronchial epithelium. J Biomed Opt 2009;14(2):024008
Date
05/02/2009Pubmed ID
19405738DOI
10.1117/1.3103583Scopus ID
2-s2.0-67650302129 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 38 CitationsAbstract
Confocal microendoscopy permits the acquisition of high-resolution real-time confocal images of bronchial mucosa via the instrument channel of an endoscope. We report here on the construction and validation of a confocal fluorescence microendoscope and its use to acquire images of bronchial epithelium in vivo. Our objective is to develop an imaging method that can distinguish preneoplastic lesions from normal epithelium to enable us to study the natural history of these lesions and the efficacy of chemopreventive agents without biopsy removal of the lesion that can introduce a spontaneous regression bias. The instrument employs a laser-scanning engine and bronchoscope-compatible confocal probe consisting of a fiber-optic image guide and a graded-index objective lens. We assessed the potential of topical application of physiological pH cresyl violet (CV) as a fluorescence contrast-enhancing agent for the visualization of tissue morphology. Images acquired ex vivo with the confocal microendoscope were first compared with a bench-top confocal fluorescence microscope and conventional histology. Confocal images from five sites topically stained with CV were then acquired in vivo from high-risk smokers and compared to hematoxylin and eosin stained sections of biopsies taken from the same site. Sufficient contrast in the confocal imagery was obtained to identify cells in the bronchial epithelium. However, further improvements in the miniature objective lens are required to provide sufficient axial resolution for accurate classification of preneoplastic lesions.
Author List
Lane PM, Lam S, McWilliams A, Leriche JC, Anderson MW, Macaulay CEMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Bronchial NeoplasmsComputer-Aided Design
Endoscopes
Equipment Design
Equipment Failure Analysis
Humans
Image Enhancement
Microscopy, Confocal
Microscopy, Fluorescence
Miniaturization
Phantoms, Imaging
Reproducibility of Results
Respiratory Mucosa
Sensitivity and Specificity
