Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Patent
1997-06-02
1998-10-13
Bahr, Jennifer
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
600476, A61B 500
Patent
active
058205586
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to examination and imaging of biological tissue using visible or infra-red radiation.
Traditionally, potentially harmful ionizing radiation (for example, X-ray or y-ray) has been used to image biological tissue. This radiation propagates in the tissue on straight, ballistic tracks, i.e., scattering of the radiation is negligible. Thus, imaging is based on evaluation of the absorption levels of different tissue types. For example, in roentgenography the X-ray film contains darker and lighter spots. In more complicated systems, such as computerized tomography (CT), a cross-sectional picture of human organs is created by transmitting X-ray radiation through a section of the human body at different angles and by electronically detecting the variation in X-ray transmission. The detected intensity information is digitally stored in a computer which reconstructs the X-ray absorption of the tissue at a multiplicity of points located in one cross-sectional plane.
Near infra-red radiation (NIR) has been used to study non-invasively the oxygen metabolism in tissue (for example, the brain, finger, or ear lobe). Using visible, NIR and infra-red (IR) radiation for medical imaging could bring several advantages. In the NIR or IR range the contrast factor between a tumor and a tissue is much larger than in the X-ray range. In addition, the visible to IR radiation is preferred over the X-ray radiation since it is non-ionizing; thus, it potentially causes fewer side effects. However, with lower energy radiation, such as visible or infra-red radiation, the radiation is strongly scattered and absorbed in biological tissue, and the migration path cannot be approximated by a straight line, making inapplicable certain aspects of cross-sectional imaging techniques.
Several different approaches to NIR imaging have been suggested in the past. One approach undertaken by Oda et al. in "Non-Invasive Hemoglobin Oxygenation Monitor and Computerized Tomography of NIR Spectrometry," SPIE Vol. 1431, p. 284, 1991, utilizes NIR radiation in an analogous way to the use of X-ray radiation in an X-ray CT. In this device, the X-ray source is replaced by three laser diodes emitting light in the NIR range. The NIR-CT uses a set of photomultipliers to detect the light of the three laser diodes transmitted through the imaged tissue. The detected data are manipulated by a computer of the original X-ray CT scanner system in the same way as the detected X-ray data would be.
Different approaches were also suggested by S. R. Arriadge et al. in "Reconstruction Methods for Infra-red Absorption Imaging," SPIE Vol. 1431, p. 204, 1991; F. A. Grunbaum et al. in "Diffuse Tomography," SPIE Vol. 1431, p. 232, 1991; B. Chance et al., SPIE Vol. 1431 (1991), p. 84, p. 180, and p. 264; and others who recognized the scattering aspect of the non-ionizing radiation and its importance in imaging. None of those techniques have fully satisfied all needs in tissue examination.
In summary, there continues to be a need for an improved system which utilizes visible or IR radiation of wavelengths sensitive to endogenous or exogenous pigments to examine or image biological tissue.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to systems and methods for spectroscopic examination of a subject positioned between input and detection ports of the spectroscopic system applied to the subject.
According to one aspect, the invention features a spectroscopic system for examination of tissue of a subject, including: at least one light source of electromagnetic radiation of a visible or infrared wavelength selected to be scattered and absorbed while migrating in the tissue; at least two input ports, optically coupled to the light source, constructed to introduce at selected input locations of the examined tissue the radiation of known intensities that define a null plane in the tissue; a detection port located at a selected detection location of the examined tissue relative to the null plane; a detector, optically coupled to the detection port, constructed to dete
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Bahr Jennifer
Non-Invasive Technology Inc.
Winakur Eric F.
LandOfFree
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