Imaging method and apparatus

摘要

An imaging apparatus and method are provided. The probe for an imaging apparatus includes a manually manipulable proximal portion; a straight distal portion with a distal tip for locating at a site to define an observational field; and a curved portion between the proximal portion and the distal portion. The imaging method includes the steps of locating a distal tip of an imaging probe at a site to define an observational field; irradiating the observational field from the distal tip; and collecting a return signal at the distal tip; wherein the probe comprises a manually manipulable proximal portion. The apparatus and method provided herein are useful for various applications including but not limited to endomicroscopy and other microsurgical procedures performed under optical stereoscopic magnified visualization, such as neurosurgery, ENT/facial surgery and spinal surgery.

主权项

1. An imaging apparatus, comprising:
a probe, comprising:
a manually manipulable proximal portion;a straight distal portion coupled to a distal tip, wherein the distal tip locates and defines an observational field of a sample to be imaged confocally;a curved portion between the proximal portion and the straight distal portion;wherein the straight distal portion has a length of between 75 mm to 205 mm, and the curved portion provides an angle between the proximal portion and the straight distal portion of between 120° and 150; anda scanning mechanism that performs a raster scan on the observation field; an optical coupler that receives light from a light source and separates the received light into a first light and a second light; a first connection to send the first light from the optical coupler to the probe; a second connection to send the second light from the optical coupler to a power monitor, wherein an amount of power output to the sample is calculated based on a ratio between power coupled by the optical coupler into the first connection and power coupled by the optical coupler into the second connection; and a detection unit that receives a portion of light returned confocally by the sample and collected by the probe, wherein an image of the sample is constructed based at least in part on the portion of light detected by the detection unit and the raster scan of the observational field.