Anti-confocal versus confocal assessment of the middle ear simulated by Monte Carlo methods

Abstract

The ability to monitor the inflammatory state of the middle ear mucosa would provide clinical utility. To enable spectral measurements on the mucosa whilst rejecting background signal from the eardrum an anti-confocal system is investigated. In contrast to the central pinhole in a confocal system the anti-confocal system uses a central stop to reject light from the in-focus plane, the eardrum, with all other light detected. Monte Carlo simulations of this system show an increase in detected signal and improved signal-to-background ratio compared to a conventional confocal set-up used to image the middle ear mucosa. System parameters are varied in the simulation and their influence on the level of background rejection are presented.

Anti-confocal assessment of middle ear inflammation

“…Hence, our approach is to combine a spatial filtering method and spectroscopy in order to improve the diagnostic accuracy. In a previous paper [13] we introduced the anti-confocal system to allow multi-wavelength measurements through the eardrum while rejecting background signal from the eardrum. The system was simulated and its performance compared to the conventional confocal system showing superiority of the anticonfocal system for this measurement and its ability to detect signal from the mucosa while rejecting background from the eardrum.…”

Introduction to the bio-optics: design and application

“…In this feature issue of Biomedical Optics Express, we have collected several papers that represent some of the technologies discussed at the Bio-Optics: Design and Application. These papers highlight advances in diagnostic microscopy [1][2][3][4][5], optical coherence tomography [6], multimodal imaging [7,8] and selected applications [9,10]. Together, they present a set of interesting instrumentation developments in the field biomedical optics.…”