Label-free in vivo pathology of human epithelia with a high-speed handheld dual-axis confocal microscope

There would be clinical value in a miniature optical-sectioning microscope to enable in vivo interrogation of tissues as a real-time and noninvasive alternative to gold-standard histopathology for early disease detection and surgical guidance. To address this need, a reflectance-based handheld line-scanned dual-axis confocal microscope was developed and fully packaged for label-free imaging of human skin and oral mucosa. This device can collect images at >15  frames/s with an optical-sectioning thickness and lateral resolution of 1.7 and 1.1  μm, respectively. Incorporation of a sterile lens cap design enables pressure-sensitive adjustment of the imaging depth by the user during clinical use. In vivo human images and videos are obtained to demonstrate the capabilities of this high-speed optical-sectioning microscopy device.