Quantitative Endoscopic Imaging Elastic Scattering Spectroscopy 1. Model System/Tissue Phantom Validation

摘要

We have designed and built an imaging elastic scattering spectroscopy endoscopic instrument for the purpose of detecting cancer in vivo. As part of our testing and validation of the system, known targets representing potential disease states of interest were constructed using polystyrene beads of known average diameter and TiO_2 crystals embedded in a two-layer agarose gel. Final construction geometry was verified using a dissection microscope. The phantoms were then imaged using the endoscopic probe at a known incident angle, and the results compared to model predictions. The mathematical model that was used combines classic ray-tracing optics with Mie scattering to predict the images that would be observed by the probe at a given physical distance from a Mie-regime scattering media. This model was used generate the expected observed response for a broad range of parameter values, and these results were then used as a library to fit the observed data from the phantoms. Compared against the theoretical library, the best matching signal correlated well with known phantom material dimensions. These results lead us to believe that imaging elastic scattering can be useful in detection/diagnosis, but further refinement of the device will be necessary to detect the weak signals in a real clinical setting.