A team of researchers from the University of Connecticut and University of Southern California have developed a hybrid imaging system for ovarian cancer screening. The prototype system, described in the open access journal Biomedical Optics Express, integrates optical coherence tomography, ultrasound and photo-acoustic imaging technologies into a single 5mm endoscope. According to the researchers, the combination of these three modalities provides complimentary information on the optical absorption, optical scattering and deep tissue structures which may facilitate more thorough characterization of ovarian tissue for diagnostic applications.
The system is still in the early stage of development and preliminary testing has been carried out on ex vivo porcine and human ovarian tissues. You can check out the full-text article for a more complete description of the system and the early results.
Article Citation: Yi Yang, Xiang Li, Tianheng Wang, Patrick D. Kumavor, Andres Aguirre, Kirk K. Shung, Qifa Zhou, Melinda Sanders, Molly Brewer, and Quing Zhu, “Integrated optical coherence tomography, ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging for ovarian tissue characterization,” Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 2551-2561 (2011)
