Interstitial fiber-optic coherence tomography method involves inserting thin optical fiber with measurement window into tissue as optical probe so light exits laterally through window

摘要

A thin optical fiber (17) with a measurement window is inserted into the tissue (19) as an optical probe so that light fed into it exits laterally through the measurement window. The azimuthal image co-ordinates of the light scattered back out of the tissue are defined by rotating the fiber and the depth information is detected using a short coherence interferometer. An Independent claim is also included for an arrangement for producing images of internal tissue surfaces and cells in situ with high resolution using a light conducting fiber inserted into the tissue.