Endoscopic holography: a minimally invasive oral biopsy technique

It is important to see the nature of the cells when diagnosing oral lesions. This is often done microscopically by removing lesions, either scraping individual cells (cytology) or cutting out blocks of tissue (biopsy). The problems encountered with these techniques involve the patient's discomfort, possibility of spreading a tumor (e.g., an incisional biopsy of malignant melanoma), delayed healing, and time required for the lab work (shipping of specimen, sectioning, staining, path review, etc.). Many dentists are hesitant to suggest biopsies of minor lesions because of the trauma, pain, and cost incurred by the patient. The use of direct tissue examination using light endoscopes, intraoral video, or macrophotography is of limited value because the poor resolution of the images will not identify pathology on a cellular level.