Apparatus for tissue type recognition within a body canal

摘要

A method and apparatus for tissue type recognition for use within the narrow confines of body canals and which can quickly produce an objective identification of the tissue types including the presence of pre-cancerous and cancerous activity. Possible configurations for the probe include endocervical probe configurations which make measurements in directions orthogonal to the long axis of the probe and configurations where multiple probe "tips" are arranged in a "wood drill" configuration. The apparatus has a measurement section that has at least one source of electromagnetic radiation such as a light emitting diode, a barrier which acts to confine the direction that the radiation can take and a detector such as a photodiode beyond the barrier, which is able to detect the radiation after it has been backscattered from tissue in close proximity to the surface of the cylinder. In the vicinity of these components one or more electrodes may also be positioned on the surface of the cylinder such that they are able to contact the tissue under examination thereby enabling simultaneous electrical property measurements to be made. The radiation source and the electrodes receive electrical signals produced by a programmed controller. The radiation detector and the electrode signals are processed by the controller. Comparator means in the controller are used to compare the signals with known values to thereby identify the tissue type.