title: Catheter-based photoacoustic endoscope.
abstract: We report a flexible shaft-based mechanical scanning photoacoustic endoscopy (PAE) system that can be potentially used for imaging the human gastrointestinal tract via the instrument channel of a clinical video endoscope. The development of such a catheter endoscope has been an important challenge to realize the technique's benefits in clinical settings. We successfully implemented a prototype PAE system that has a 3.2-mm diameter and 2.5-m long catheter section. As the instrument's flexible shaft and scanning tip are fully encapsulated in a plastic catheter, it easily fits within the 3.7-mm diameter instrument channel of a clinical video endoscope. Here, we demonstrate the intra-instrument channel workability and in vivo animal imaging capability of the PAE system.
authors.affiliation: Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Optical Imaging Laboratory, Campus Box 1097, One Brookings Drive, Street Louis, Missouri 63130.
authors.forename: Joon-Mo
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Optical Imaging Laboratory, Campus Box 1097, One Brookings Drive, Street Louis, Missouri 63130.
authors.forename: Chiye
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, NIH Ultrasonic Transducer Resource Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1042 Downey Way, University Park, Drive 130, Los Angeles, California 90089.
authors.forename: Ruimin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, NIH Ultrasonic Transducer Resource Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1042 Downey Way, University Park, Drive 130, Los Angeles, California 90089.
authors.forename: Qifa
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, NIH Ultrasonic Transducer Resource Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1042 Downey Way, University Park, Drive 130, Los Angeles, California 90089.
authors.forename: K Kirk
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Shung
authors.affiliation: Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Optical Imaging Laboratory, Campus Box 1097, One Brookings Drive, Street Louis, Missouri 63130.
authors.forename: Lihong V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000818:Animals; D057785:Catheters; D019723:Endoscopes; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D004947:Esophagus / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D011817:Rabbits