A miniaturized, tethered, spectrally‐encoded confocal endomicroscopy capsule

Abstract

Background and Objective The tethered spectrally‐encoded confocal endomicroscopy (SECM) capsule is an imaging device that once swallowed by an unsedated patient can visualize cellular morphologic changes associated with gastrointestinal (GI) tract diseases in vivo. Recently, we demonstrated a tethered SECM capsule for counting esophageal eosinophils in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) in vivo. Yet, the current tethered SECM capsule is far too long to be widely utilized for imaging pediatric patients, who constitute a major portion of the EoE patient population. In this paper, we present a new tethered SECM capsule that is 33% shorter, has an easier and repeatable fabrication process, and produces images with reduced speckle noise. Materials and Methods The smaller SECM capsule utilized a miniature condenser to increase the fiber numerical aperture and reduce the capsule length. A custom 3D‐printed holder was developed to enable easy and repeatable device fabrication. A dual‐clad fiber (DCF) was used to reduce speckle noise. Results The fabricated SECM capsule (length = 20 mm; diameter = 7 mm) had a similar size and shape to a pediatric dietary supplement pill. The new capsule achieved optical sectioning thickness of 13.2 μm with a small performance variation between devices of 1.7 μm. Confocal images of human esophagus obtained in vivo showed the capability of this new device to clearly resolve microstructural epithelial details with reduced speckle noise. Conclusions We expect that the smaller size and better image performance of this new SECM capsule will greatly facilitate the clinical adoption of this technology in pediatric patients and will enable more accurate assessment of EoE‐suspected tissues. Lasers Surg. Med. 51:452–458, 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Confocal laser endomicroscopy under propofol-based sedation for early gastric cancer and pre-cancerous lesions is associated with better diagnosing accuracy: a retrospective cohort study in China

“…CLE, a new diagnostic modality, can provide real-time, high-magni cation images of the gastric epithelium, and can readily permits inspection of single cells as well as provide better assessment of malignant tissues for guiding biopsies (8,9). Previous study has demonstrated that compared with WLE, CLE diagonsis had a higher accuracy in detecting EGC/HGIN (6).…”

Confocal laser endomicroscopy under propofol‐based sedation for early gastric cancer and pre‐cancerous lesions is associated with better diagnostic accuracy: a retrospective cohort study in China

“…Sedation in gastroscopy is widely accepted in highincome countries, which are found to be associated with increased patient comfort and reduced complications related with poor patient cooperation, though it causes additional medical resource consumption [8]. As CLE procedures usually require prolonged endoscopy time and better patient cooperation, sedation is considered even indispensable in these patients [9,10]. However, whether sedation is associated with improved diagnostic quality of CLE is not well understood.…”

Novel Insights Into Tissue-Specific Biochemical Alterations in Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis Using Raman Spectroscopy

“…Multiple light-based approaches are being developed to elucidate cellular, subcellular, and structural changes in EoE ( 5 – 8 ). However, these are not suitable for unraveling biochemical composition and spatial distribution of biologically active molecules.…”