Fluorescence-enhanced imaging using a novel hand-held based optical imager: Phantom studies - art. no. 684809

Near-infrared (NIR) optical imaging is an emerging noninvasive modality for breast cancer diagnosis. The currently available optical imaging systems towards tomography studies are limited either by instrument portability, patient comfort, or flexibility to image any given tissue volume. Hence, a novel hand-held probe based gain modulated intensified CCD camera imaging system is developed such that it can possibly overcome some of the above limitations. The unique features of this hand-held probe based optical imaging system are: (i) to perform simultaneous multiple point illumination and detection, thus decreasing the total imaging time and improving overall signal strength; (ii) to adapt to the tissue contours, thus decreasing the light leakage at contact surface; and (iii) to obtain trans-illumination measurements apart from reflectance measurements, thus improving the depth information. Phantom studies are performed to demonstrate the feasibility of performing fluorescence optical imaging under different target depths using cubical phantoms (10 x 6.5x 10 cc). The effect of simultaneous multiple point illumination over sequential single point illumination is demonstrated from experimental phantom studies.