title: Confocal reflectance theta line scanning microscope for imaging human skin in vivo.
abstract: A confocal reflectance theta line scanning microscope demonstrates imaging of nuclear and cellular detail in human epidermis in vivo. Experimentally measured line-spread functions determine the instrumental optical section thickness to be 1.7 +/- 0.1 microm and the lateral resolution to be 1.0 +/- 0.1 microm. Within human dermis (through full-thickness epidermis), the measured section thickness is 9.2 +/- 1.7 microm and the lateral resolution is 1.7 +/- 0.1 microm. An illumination line is scanned directly in the pupil of the objective lens, and the backscattered descanned light is detected with a linear array, such that the theta line scanner consists of only seven optical components.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115-5000, USA. pdwyer@ece.neu.edu
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Dwyer
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: DiMarzio
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Zavislan
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: Milind
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rajadhyaksha
mesh_terms: D046169:Dermoscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology*