Tissue harvest with a laser microbiopsy

Traditional pathology workflow suffers from limitations including biopsy invasiveness, small fraction of large tissue samples being analyzed, and complex and time-consuming processing.

We address limitations of conventional pathology workflow through development of a laser microbiopsy device for minimally invasive harvest of sub-microliter tissue volumes. Laser microbiopsy combined with rapid diagnostic methods, such as virtual hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) imaging has potential to provide rapid minimally invasive tissue diagnosis.

Laser microbiopsies were harvested using an annular shaped Ho:YAG laser beam focused onto the tissue surface. As the annulus was ablated, the tissue section in the center of the annulus was ejected and collected directly onto a glass slide for analysis. Cryogen spray cooling was used before and after laser harvest to limit thermal damage. Microbiopsies were collected from porcine skin and kidney. Harvested microbiopsies were imaged with confocal microscopy and digitally false colored to provide virtual H&E images.

Microbiopsies were successfully harvested from porcine skin and kidney. Computational and experimental results show the benefit of cryogen pre- and post-cooling to limit thermal damage. Virtual H&E images of microbiopsies retained observable cellular features including cell nuclei.

Laser microbiopsy with virtual H&E imaging shows promise as a potential rapid and minimally invasive tool for biopsy and diagnosis.