Real‐time video mosaicking to guide handheld in vivo microscopy

Abstract

Handheld and endoscopic opticalsectioning microscopes are being developed for noninvasive screening and intraoperative consultation.Imaging a large extent of tissue is often desired, but miniature in vivo microscopes tend to suffer from limited fields of view. To extend the imaging field during clinical use, we have developed a real-time video mosaicking method, which allows users to efficiently survey larger areas of tissue. Here, we modified a previous postprocessing mosaicking method so that real-time mosaicking is possible at >30 frames/second when using a device that outputs images that are 400 × 400 pixels in size. Unlike other real-time mosaicking methods, our strategy can accommodate image rotations and deformations that often occur during clinical use of a handheld microscope. We perform a feasibility study to demonstrate that the use of real-time mosaicking is necessary to enable efficient sampling of a desired imaging field when using a handheld dual-axis confocal microscope. K E Y W O R D Sconfocal microscopy, medical and biological imaging, optical microelectromechanical devices, real-time video mosaicking, scanning microscopy

In vivo microscopy as an adjunctive tool to guide detection, diagnosis, and treatment

“…Limitations in field of view have been mitigated by sophisticated mosaicking techniques, 46 , 57 – 59 typically at the tissue surface or at a fixed subsurface depth [ Fig. 3(a) ].…”