Laser reflectance microscopy 2-D tissue imaging system

Abstract

The interactions of laser radiation with pathological slide reveal their diverse optical characteristic depending on their compositional variation. Their point to point compositional variation is determined by reconstruction of the reflectance images which carry valuable information. However conventional microscope only deals with giving the image as an enlarged form, and is also light dependent. The system of confocal imaging is very complex and involves large number of lenses. Surface reflected laser radiations from slide are measured by a reflectance imager. Laser radiations (680 nm) are guided by an optical fiber inclined at 45 degree angle and reflected radiations are collected by photo detectors placed at an angle of 45 degree to the source which is also at 45 degree. An array of source and detectors (i.e. 12 source and 12 detectors) are placed in a probe which is stationary. The slide is placed on a platform which moves in steps of 1mm.The platform moves and data representing two-dimensional variation are collected, after amplification, these are digitized, and post processing of the images is done. An advanced algorithm of image processing is used and color coding is done. The probe design is highly refined and first of its kind. The accuracy is high since the source is stationary. The reflected image can be inferred by the processing technique which gives useful parameters. This system is capable of producing output equivalent to C.T-scan or M.R.I in one-fifth of their cost.