TRANSILLUMINATION APPARATUS

摘要

A transillumination device (10) includes at leat one fiber optic light source (32) and a fiber optic cable (40) that delivers light to a hand held wand (42) having a light emitting surface (44). The wand is placed against breast or other tissue to transilluminate it, and the patient experiences no discomfort because the light emitting surface is cool. A camera (18) sensitive to infrared and near infrared radiation is aimed at the tissue during the transillumination procedure, and the physician observes the transilluminated tissue through a high resolution video monitor (16). Frames of interest may be frozen and high resolution photographs are made on demand by a video printer (52). Ultrahigh resolution copies may also be produced through the use of image enhancing software.