Identification and Diameter Assessment of Gastric Submucosal Vessels using Infrared Electronic Endoscopy

Abstract

In this study, an electronic endoscope was applied for observation of gastric submucosal vessels, with infrared illumination, in anesthetized dogs. An in-vivo spectrophotometry showed that infrared light at 620-820 nm penetrates the abdominal and gastric wall. During the endoscopy performed in dogs, the infrared radiation penetrated the abdominal wall and gastric wall from the outside, and was detected by the endoscope's charge-coupled device. A television monitor displayed a network of gastric vasculature, which was identified as veins in the gastric wall by injecting saline or indocyanine green into the vein. Using this system, it was possible to measure venous diameters of more than 0.2 mm by comparison with a reference wire. The diameter obtained by the image analysis correlated lineally to that of a vascular template prepared from the same stomach. Thus, it may become possible to assess gastric submucosal hemodynamics using infrared endoscopy, a new application in electronic endoscopy.

Infrared imaging of subcutaneous veins

“…Despite a long history of medical IR photography, this technique is not widely used in medicine because of time considerations [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Prior experiments provided some interesting data using other near-IR detectors [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][28][29][30][31]. However, the device parameters were empirically selected without detailed experimental studies leaving the clinical prospects unclear.…”

A Novel Diagnostic Method for Evaluation of Vascular Lesions in the Digestive Tract Using Infrared Fluorescence Endoscopy

“…To date, several studies have reported the results of IRE after intravenous ICG administration [5,6,9,10]. Regarding ICG toxicity, Speich et al [11] reported that ICG exhibited side effects in a dose-dependent manner, and that side effects were more common when doses of 0.5 mg/kg or more were administered.…”

A pilot study using an infrared imaging system in prevention of post-endoscopic submucosal dissection ulcer bleeding

“…Infrared light is frequently used in medical practice because it is less influenced by scattering and absorption in tissues. These characteristics make infrared light useful to detect subcutaneous venous structures that are not otherwise revealed by visible light [11][12][13]. The IRI system consists of a light source apparatus (XCLV-260HP; Olympus Medical Systems) and an IR fluorescence endoscope (XGIF-Q260ZIR) with a high-resolution chargecoupled device (CCD) at the end of the scope.…”