Endoscopic low-coherence topography measurement for upper airways and hollow samples

J Biomed Opt. 2010 Nov-Dec;15(6):066014. doi: 10.1117/1.3512218.

Abstract

To evaluate the severity of airway pathologies, quantitative dimensioning of airways is of utmost importance. Endoscopic vision gives a projective image and thus no true scaling information can be directly deduced from it. In this article, an approach based on an interferometric setup, a low-coherence laser source and a standard rigid endoscope is presented, and applied to hollow samples measurements. More generally, the use of the low-coherence interferometric setup detailed here could be extended to any other endoscopy-related field of interest, e.g., gastroscopy, arthroscopy and other medical or industrial applications where tri-dimensional topology is required. The setup design with a multiple fibers illumination system is presented. Demonstration of the method ability to operate on biological samples is assessed through measurements on ex vivo pig bronchi.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Endoscopes*
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Humans
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / instrumentation*
  • Interferometry / instrumentation*
  • Lung / anatomy & histology*
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Swine
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence / instrumentation*