Technique for real-time tissue characterization based on scanning multispectral fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy (ms-TRFS)

Abstract

Abstract:We report a novel technique for continuous acquisition, processing and display of fluorescence lifetimes enabling real-time tissue diagnosis through a single hand held or biopsy fiber-optic probe. A scanning multispectral time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy (ms-TRFS) with self-adjustable photon detection range was developed to account for the dynamic changes of fluorescence intensity typically encountered in clinical application. A fast algorithm was implemented in the ms-TRFS software platform, providing up to 15 Hz continuous display of fluorescence lifetime values. Potential applications of this technique, including biopsy guidance, and surgical margins delineation were demonstrated in proof-of-concept experiments. Current results showed accurate display of fluorescence lifetimes values and discrimination of distinct fluorescence markers and tissue types in real-time (< 100 ms per data point).

Detection of glycosaminoglycan loss in articular cartilage by fluorescence lifetime imaging

“…19 Multimodal instrumentation combining FLIm and ultrasound has also been used to monitor matrix composition and mechanical properties of engineered cartilage tissue during maturation. 20,21 Recent advantages in FLIm devices using miniature fiber optics probes, along with fast electronics enabling fast data acquisition speed, analysis, and real-time display 22 make this technique highly compatible with modern clinical arthroscopes. Hence, the goal of the present study was to investigate the feasibility of using FLIm for early detection of cartilage disease.…”

Rapid fluorescence lifetime estimation with modified phasor approach and Laguerre deconvolution: a comparative study

“…Our previous work has explored the application of fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) for oral carcinoma detection [9], atherosclerotic plaque assessment [10] and characterization of engineered tissues [11]. More recently we have also reported the ability to measure lifetime from tissue and to augment white-light video frames in real-time [12, 13]. Quantification of emission spectrum and lifetime is performed through different analysis tools.…”

Real-Time Visualization of Tissue Surface Biochemical Features Derived From Fluorescence Lifetime Measurements

“…In our previous studies [9, 28], we showed that the area over which fluorescence signals are measured is approximately equal to the size of the fiber core, when the probe-to-target distances are smaller than 3 mm. As expected, though, in Fig.…”

“…Although scanning techniques have shown potential to provide real-time feedback about the biochemical features of tissue at each measured location [6–10], their clinical implementation is still limited by the difficulty in registering dynamically the diagnostic information derived from optical parameters with the location from where the optical measurement was taken. Scanning multispectral time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy (ms-TRFS) [9, 11], for example, has demonstrated ability to rapidly characterize and diagnose diseased tissues based on their autofluorescence properties [12–17]. Nevertheless, this technique, as other optical spectroscopy techniques (i.e.…”