Real-Time Fluorescence Lifetime Tracking

Abstract

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a novel technique for continuous acquisition, processing, and display of fluorescence lifetimes. This technique allows for rapid and non-invasive real-time tissue diagnosis through a single hand-held or biopsy fiber-optic probe.

Full Description

Conventional imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) provide surgeons with a great deal of information about a tumor’s anatomy but cannot distinguish between cancerous and non-cancerous cells. Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy (TRFS) has shown promise in the imaging of biopsies of brain tumor, oral carcinoma, and atherosclerosis but currently requires a minimum of several seconds (and up to a few minutes) of off-line fluorescence decay analysis due to the large number of data points collected. While such an approach show-cases the potential of TRFS, it also presents a hurdle which prevents TRFS from being used as a real-time tissue diagnostic tool.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a novel technique for continuous acquisition, processing, and display of fluorescence lifetimes. This technique allows for rapid and non-invasive real-time tissue diagnosis through a single hand held or biopsy fiber-optic probe. TRFS has been found to be less sensitive to the presence of endogenous absorbers (such as blood) or changes in light excitation collection.

Applications

• Tissue characterization
• Diagnosis in: Ophthalmology, cardiology, and oncology

Features/Benefits

• Real-time analysis
• Rapid and non-invasive real-time tissue diagnosis
• Continuous acquisition, processing, and display
• Single hand held or biopsy fiber-optic probe
• Less sensitive to the presence of endogenous absorbers

Patent Status