Gastrointestinal tract cancer, the most common type of cancer, has a very low survival rate, especially for pancreatic cancer (five year survival rate of 5%) and bile duct cancer (five year survival rate of 12%). Here, we propose to use an integrated OCT-US catheter for cancer detection. OCT is targeted to acquire detailed information, such as dysplasia and neoplasia, for early detection of tumors. US is used for staging cancers according to the size of the primary tumor and whether or not it has invaded lymph nodes and other parts of the body. Considering the lumen size of the GI tract, an OCT system with a long image range (>10mm) and a US imaging system with a center frequency at 40MHz (penetration depth > 5mm) were used. The OCT probe was also designed for long-range imaging. The side-view OCT and US probes were sealed inside one probe cap piece and one torque coil and became an integrated probe. This probe was then inserted into a catheter sheath which fits in the channel of a duodenoscope and is able to be navigated smoothly into the bile duct by the elevator of the duodenoscope. We have imaged 5 healthy and 2 diseased bile ducts. In the OCT images, disorganized layer structures and heterogeneous regions demonstrated the existence of tumors. Micro-calcification can be observed in the corresponding US images.

Date Published: 2 March 2015
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 9304, Endoscopic Microscopy X; and Optical Techniques in Pulmonary Medicine II, 93040Z (2 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2074697

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9304:
Endoscopic Microscopy X; and Optical Techniques in Pulmonary Medicine II
Melissa J. Suter; Guillermo J. Tearney M.D.; Thomas D. Wang; Stephen Lam M.D.; Matthew Brenner, Editor(s)