Rapid multispectral endoscopic imaging system for near real-time mapping of the mucosa blood supply in the lung

We have developed a fast multispectral endoscopic imaging system that is capable of acquiring images in 18 optimized spectral bands spanning 400-760 nm by combining a customized light source with six triple-band filters and a standard color CCD camera. A method is developed to calibrate the spectral response of the CCD camera. Imaging speed of 15 spectral image cubes/second is achieved. A spectral analysis algorithm based on a linear matrix inversion approach is developed and implemented in a graphics processing unit (GPU) to map the mucosa blood supply in the lung in vivo. Clinical measurements on human lung patients are demonstrated.