Abstract

While fluorescence microscopy has become an essential tool in biomedical sciences, many cell types cannot be readily accessed due to their location in hollow tissue tracts (GI mucosa cells) or deep within organ tissue. Standard endoscopes generally provide insufficient resolution for tissue characterizations and obtaining biopsy is long, costly and prone to errors. Even when samples are safely taken from the patient’s body, histology cannot provide functional and dynamic information during the endoscopic procedure. We present improvements to a novel endomicroscopy technique that may advance future prospects for the possibility of “optical biopsies”.

© 2008 Optical Society of America