Clinical Optical Imaging

We are developing optical, spectrally-agile devices with clinical applications (surgery). These exploit fluorescence imaging in the Near-Infrared (NIR) optical region (650-1000 nm). Tissues are ‘transparent’ in the NIR band and these devices will ultimately allow us to detect and image tumour tissues at depths up to 10-15 mm.

We present the design, implementation and performance of a novel electrically-tuneable laparoscope imaging lens based on the Optotune EL-10-30-TC lens. The achromatic performance is assessed over the 450-850 nm range to include use with NIR fluorescence. It uses of-the-shelf optical components and a custom small-footprint driver board.

A prospective pilot study of detection of sentinel lymph nodes in gynaecological cancers using a novel near infrared fluorescence imaging system

A novel, custom-made, optical imaging system was developed to enable detection of multiple fluorescence dyes and allow simultaneous bright-field imaging during open surgery and laparoscopic procedures. We then evaluated the performance of the system in a prospective study of 49 women with early stage vulval, cervical and endometrial cancer who were scheduled to undergo complete lymphadenectomy.

A fibre-optic NIR urethra illumination system.pdf

We present the design of a side emitting polymer fibre placed inside a Foley catheter and a 830 nm pulse driver; these are used with an NIR imaging system and can help surgeons avoid cutting too close to the urethra during certain cancer surgeries.

A fast method for estimation of light flux in fluorescence image guided surgery

We present a theoretical method to estimate the light flux in near-infrared fluorescence imaging of tissues. This method is a very good approximation to the more usual Monte-Carlo methods, but runs in a fraction of the time. A Windows executable called FIFAC.exe is available that implements this method in Software Downloads.