Serial optical coherence microscopy for label-free volumetric histopathology.

The observation of histopathology using optical microscope is an essential procedure for examination of tissue biopsies or surgically excised specimens in biological and clinical laboratories. However, slide-based microscopic pathology is not suitable for visualizing the large-scale tissue and native 3D organ structure due to its sampling limitation and shallow imaging depth. Here, we demonstrate serial optical coherence microscopy (SOCM) technique that offers label-free, high-throughput, and large-volume imaging of ex vivo mouse organs. A 3D histopathology of whole mouse brain and kidney including blood vessel structure is reconstructed by deep tissue optical imaging in serial sectioning techniques. Our results demonstrate that SOCM has unique advantages as it can visualize both native 3D structures and quantitative regional volume without introduction of any contrast agents.

Smartphone-Based Endoscope System for Advanced Point-of-Care Diagnostics: Feasibility Study.

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic technique is often applied for the diagnosis of diseases affecting internal organs and image-guidance of surgical procedures. Although the endoscope has become an indispensable tool in the clinic, its utility has been limited to medical offices or operating rooms because of the large size of its ancillary devices. In addition, the basic design and imaging capability of the system have remained relatively unchanged for decades. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop a smartphone-based endoscope system capable of advanced endoscopic functionalities in a compact size and at an affordable cost and to demonstrate its feasibility of point-of-care through human subject imaging. METHODS: We developed and designed to set up a smartphone-based endoscope system, incorporating a portable light source, relay-lens, custom adapter, and homebuilt Android app. We attached three different types of existing rigid or flexible endoscopic probes to our system and captured the endoscopic images using the homebuilt app. Both smartphone-based endoscope system and commercialized clinical endoscope system were utilized to compare the imaging quality and performance. Connecting the head-mounted display (HMD) wirelessly, the smartphone-based endoscope system could superimpose an endoscopic image to real-world view. RESULTS: A total of 15 volunteers who were accepted into our study were captured using our smartphone-based endoscope system, as well as the commercialized clinical endoscope system. It was found that the imaging performance of our device had acceptable quality compared with that of the conventional endoscope system in the clinical setting. In addition, images captured from the HMD used in the smartphone-based endoscope system improved eye-hand coordination between the manipulating site and the smartphone screen, which in turn reduced spatial disorientation. CONCLUSIONS: The performance of our endoscope system was evaluated against a commercial system in routine otolaryngology examinations. We also demonstrated and evaluated the feasibility of conducting endoscopic procedures through a custom HMD.

Wide-field optical coherence microscopy of the mouse brain slice.

The imaging capability of optical coherence microscopy (OCM) has great potential to be used in neuroscience research because it is able to visualize anatomic features of brain tissue without labeling or external contrast agents. However, the field of view of OCM is still narrow, which dilutes the strength of OCM and limits its application. In this study, we present fully automated wide-field OCM for mosaic imaging of sliced mouse brains. A total of 308 segmented OCM images were acquired, stitched, and reconstructed as an en-face brain image after intensive imaging processing. The overall imaging area was 11.2×7.0 mm (horizontal×vertical), and the corresponding pixel resolution was 1.2×1.2 µm. OCM images were compared to traditional histology stained with Nissl and Luxol fast blue (LFB). In particular, the orientation of the fibers was analyzed and quantified in wide-field OCM.