EP0920831A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Apparatus and method for imaging diseased tissue using integrated autofluorescence
Assignee: Xillix Technologies Corp
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Filing: 1995-03-24
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2015-03-24
Abstract
Abstract An apparatus and method for imaging diseases in tissue are presented. The apparatus employs a light source for producing excitation light to excite the tissue to generate autofluorescence light and for producing illumination light to generate reflected and back scattered light (remittance light) from the tissue. Optical sensors are used to receive the autofluorescence light and the remittance light to collect an autofluorescence light image and a remittance light image. A filter acts to integrate the autofluorescence image over a range of wavelengths in which the autofluorescence intensity for normal tissue is substantially different from the autofluorescence intensity for diseased tissue to establish an integrated autofluorescence image of the tissue. The remittance light provides a background image to normalize the autofluorescence image to account for image non-uniformity due to changes in distance, angle and illumination intensity. A monitor displays the integrated autofluorescence image and the remittance light image to produce a normalized image in which diseased tissue is distinguishable from normal tissue. The optical sensor can be installed adjacent the one end of an endoscope probe inserted into a body cavity. A method for imaging diseased tissue using an integrated fluorescence image and a normalizing remittance image is also disclosed.
Inventors
- 👤 Branko Palcic
- 👤 Calum Macaulay
- 👤 Stephen Lam
- 👤 Bruno Jaggi
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 14:47
CPC Classifications
A; A61; A61B; A61B1/00; A61B1/04; A61B1/043; A61B1/05; A61B5/00; A61B5/0059; A61B5/0071; A61B5/0082; A61B5/0084; A61B5/0086; H; H04; H04N; H04N23/00; H04N23/50; H04N23/555
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
205 words
Endoscope apparatus for imaging tissue within a body comprising: a probe having an inner end to be located within the body near the
tissue under examination and an outer end to extend outside the body; a light source at the outer end of the probe for generating light to
cause the tissue to produce autofluorescence light having intensities that
are different for healthy tissue than for diseased tissue, the probe
conveying the excitation light from the outer end to the inner end to
illuminate the tissue; image sensing means at the inner end of the probe to detect the
autofluoresence light and produce an image of the tissue under
examination on a single channel, the image sensing means having a light
sensitivity that can be increased to produce low resolution images at low
autofluorescence light intensities and decreased to produce higher
resolution images at other light intensities; a filter disposed between the imaging sensing means and the tissue
under for filtering out the excitation light from the light that reaches the
image sensing means; and a display connected to receive a filtered image produced by the
image sensing means for displaying the filtered image in such a manner as
to delineate diseased and normal tissue.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
205 words
Endoscope apparatus for imaging tissue within a body comprising: a probe having an inner end to be located within the body near the
tissue under examination and an outer end to extend outside the body; a light source at the outer end of the probe for generating light to
cause the tissue to produce autofluorescence light having intensities that
are different for healthy tissue than for diseased tissue, the probe
conveying the excitation light from the outer end to the inner end to
illuminate the tissue; image sensing means at the inner end of the probe to detect the
autofluoresence light and produce an image of the tissue under
examination on a single channel, the image sensing means having a light
sensitivity that can be increased to produce low resolution images at low
autofluorescence light intensities and decreased to produce higher
resolution images at other light intensities; a filter disposed between the imaging sensing means and the tissue
under for filtering out the excitation light from the light that reaches the
image sensing means; and a display connected to receive a filtered image produced by the
image sensing means for displaying the filtered image in such a manner as
to delineate diseased and normal tissue.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
17 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the image
sensing means is a CCD array.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
32 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a
controller coupled to the CCD array for increasing the light sensitivity of
the CCD array by binning pixels of the CCD array.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
20 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1-3 in which the
filter comprises a coating on the CCD array.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
29 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1-3 including a
lens at the inner end of the probe to focus the autofluorescence light on
the image sensing means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1-5 in which the
light source generates excitation light in a broad spectral band ranging
from 400 nm to 480 nm.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
27 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1-6 in which the
light source generates excitation light in a narrow spectral band of blue or
violet light.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
17 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the filter
comprises a long pass blue filter.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
27 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1-6 in which the
filter excludes excitation light and passes light of other wavelengths to the
image sensing means.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
23 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which the filtering
means excludes blue excitation light and passes green and longer
wavelength light.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
116 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which the light
source sequentially illuminates the tissue under examination with two or
more wavelength bands of light over a timing cycle, one wavelength band
being the excitation light that causes the tissue under examination to
produce autofluorescence light and the other wavelength band being non-excitation
light that is reflected off the tissue under examination and
passed through the filter, wherein the sensitivity of the image sensing
means is increased to produce a low resolution autofluorescence image of
the tissue under examination during illumination by the excitation light
and decreased to produce a higher resolution reflectance image of the
tissue under examination during illumination by the non-excitation light.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
38 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which the excitation
light is on for a portion of the timing cycle that is greater than a portion
of the timing cycle during which the non-excitation light is on.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
44 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10 including
image processing means for storing sequential autofluorescence and
reflectance images produced by the image sensing means and combining
the fluorescence and reflectance images for simultaneous display as a
pseudo-colour image on the display.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
24 words
Endoscope apparatus as claimed in any of claims 9-11 in which the
non-excitation light is substantially red and the excitation light is
substantially blue.
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