title: Method for evaluating optical characteristics of endoscopes for recording fluorescence-related cardiac electrical activity.
abstract: Nondestructive methods were used to evaluate marketed fiber-optic endoscopes (intended for simple viewing) for fluorescence recording. Our application is for optical recording from the heart. For one angioscope, we measured a focal length of 0.33 mm, a field of view of 45 degrees, an aperture of 0.26 mm, and an efficiency of 43%. We calculated that the angioscope would give a signal-to-noise ratio of 1.0 for a cardiac action potential, if its field of view were divided into a nine-pixel array (for safe continuous illumination). Our methods are useful in designing and evaluating fluorescence fiber-optic systems with superior signal quality and spatial resolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.
authors.forename: Soma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sau
authors.forename: Howard I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Bassen
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Krauthamer
mesh_terms: D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D019723:Endoscopes; D005453:Fluorescence; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*