Multispectral confocal microendoscopy in lung biopsy guidance

Abstract

There is a critical need for a technology that can assist doctors in more accurately evaluating lung nodules at the time of biopsy. To address this need, a multispectral fluorescence line-scan confocal microendoscope was developed that employs a fiber bundle to image tissue at the distal tip of the biopsy needle. The multispectral nature of the instrument allows the simultaneous use of multiple FDA-approved dyes that stain different cellular/tissue compartments in different spectral regions to distinguish between lung cancer and benign lesions of the lung. The imaging system has been used to image ex vivo mouse and human lung tissue.