Abstract
We have developed a low-cost, near-infrared (NIR) reflectance confocal microscope (RCM) to overcome challenges in the imaging depth and speed found in our previously-reported smartphone confocal microscope. In the new NIR RCM device, we have used 840 nm superluminescent LED (sLED) to increase the tissue imaging depth and speed. A new confocal detection optics has been developed to maintain high lateral resolution even when a relatively large slit width was used. The material cost of the NIR RCM device was still low, ~$5,200. The lateral resolution was 1.1 µm and 1.3 µm along the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively. Axial resolution was measured as 11.2 µm. In vivo confocal images of human forearm skin obtained at the imaging speed of 203 frames/sec clearly visualized characteristic epidermal and dermal cellular features of the human skin.
Highlights
Skin biopsy histopathologic evaluation is the standard method for making a diagnostic assessment of most dermatological conditions
We report the development of a low-cost, near-infrared (NIR) confocal microscope to address the aforementioned challenges
2.2 Confocal detection optics We have developed a new confocal detection optics that provides better lateral resolution than the detection optics used in our previous smartphone confocal microscope
Summary
Skin biopsy histopathologic evaluation is the standard method for making a diagnostic assessment of most dermatological conditions. Smartphone-based microscopy devices have been developed with a goal of providing microscopy images at the point of care and subsequently improving the disease diagnosis in low-resource or distant settings. Most of the smartphone-based microscopy devices are tailored for imaging excised and thinly-sectioned samples [3,4,5,6,7]. RCM has been evaluated for the diagnosis of various skin diseases and shown to provide high diagnostic accuracy for major skin cancers in developed countries [9,10]. RCM has been tested for imaging skin diseases prevalent in low-resource settings such as Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Xeroderma Pigmentosum [11,12]. Clinical adaptation of RCM in low-resource or remote settings, has not been realized yet due mainly to the relatively high cost associated with the device
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