A multimodal spectroscopy system for real-time disease diagnosis

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Spectroscopy
• Medical Diagnostics

Background:

• Multimodal spectroscopy (MMS) offers complementary, depth-sensitive tissue composition data.
• MMS shows promise for diagnosing diseases like atherosclerosis and breast cancer.
• Existing MMS systems require integrated instruments and specialized probes for clinical application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize an integrated multimodal spectroscopy (MMS) instrument and optical fiber probe.
• To enable simultaneous collection of reflectance, fluorescence, and Raman spectra in a clinical setting.
• To validate the system for in vivo and ex vivo analysis of artery and breast tissue.

Main Methods:

• Developed an integrated MMS instrument with three excitation sources (xenon, nitrogen, diode lasers).
• Designed a novel 2mm outer diameter optical fiber probe for simultaneous spectral collection.
• Utilized physical tissue models (phantoms) for probe calibration and characterization.

Main Results:

• Successfully integrated reflectance, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopy modalities.
• Developed a unitary fiber probe with a unique excitation/collection geometry.
• Calibrated the probe using phantoms, yielding parameters for accurate spectral analysis.
• Demonstrated in vivo and ex vivo analysis of artery and breast tissue.

Conclusions:

• The developed clinical MMS system and fiber probe facilitate simultaneous spectral data acquisition.
• The novel probe design and calibration method enable accurate diagnostic parameter extraction.
• This technology holds significant potential for advancing disease diagnosis in clinical settings.