In order to diagnose cancer, a sample must be removed, prepared, and examined under a microscope,which is expensive, invasive, and time consuming. Fiber optic fluorescence endomicroscopy, where an imageguide is used to obtain high-resolution images of tissue in vivo, has shown promise as an alternative to conventionalbiopsies. However, the resolution of standard endomicroscopy is limited by the fiber bundle sampling frequencyand out-of-focus light. A system is presented which incorporates a plastic, achromatic objective to increase thesampling and which provides optical sectioning via structured illumination to reject background light. Animage is relayed from the sample by a fiber bundle with the custom 2.1-mm outer diameter objective lens integratedto the distal tip. The objective is corrected for the excitation and the emission wavelengths of proflavine (452 and515 nm). It magnifies the object onto the fiber bundle to improve the systemﾒs lateral resolution by increasing thesampling. The plastic lenses were fabricated via single-point diamond turning and assembled using a zero alignmenttechnique. Ex vivo images of normal and neoplastic murine mammary tissues stained with proflavine arecaptured. The system achieves higher contrast and resolves smaller features than standard fluorescence endomicroscopy.
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