Doradla Pallavi, Alavi Karim, Joseph Cecil, Giles Robert
University of Massachusetts Lowell, Department of Physics, Massachusetts 01854, United StatesbBiomedical Terahertz Technology Center, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, United States.
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, United States.
J Biomed Opt. 2014 Aug;19(8):080501. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.19.8.080501.
We demonstrate the design and development of an innovative single-channel terahertz (THz) prototype endoscopic imaging system based on flexible metal-coated THz waveguides and a polarization specific detection technique. The continuous-wave (CW) THz imaging system utilizes a single channel to transmit and collect the reflected intrinsic THz signal from the sample. Since the prototype system relies on a flexible waveguide assembly that is small enough in diameter, it can be readily integrated with a conventional optical endoscope. This study aims to show the feasibility of waveguide enabled THz imaging. We image various objects in transmission and reflection modes. We also image normal and cancerous colonic tissues in reflectance mode using a polarization specific imaging technique. The resulting cross-polarized THz reflectance images showed contrast between normal and cancerous colonic tissues at 584 GHz. The level of contrast observed using endoscopic imaging correlates well with contrast levels observed in ex vivo THz reflectance studies of colon cancer. This indicates that the single-channel flexible waveguide-based THz endoscope presented here represents a significant step forward in clinical endoscopic application of THz technology to aid in in vivo cancer screening.
我们展示了一种基于柔性金属涂层太赫兹（THz）波导和偏振特定检测技术的创新型单通道太赫兹原型内镜成像系统的设计与开发。连续波（CW）太赫兹成像系统利用单个通道来传输和收集来自样品的反射固有太赫兹信号。由于原型系统依赖于直径足够小的柔性波导组件，它可以很容易地与传统光学内窥镜集成。本研究旨在展示基于波导的太赫兹成像的可行性。我们以透射和反射模式对各种物体进行成像。我们还使用偏振特定成像技术以反射模式对正常和癌性结肠组织进行成像。所得的交叉偏振太赫兹反射图像显示了在584吉赫兹时正常和癌性结肠组织之间的对比度。使用内镜成像观察到的对比度水平与在结肠癌离体太赫兹反射研究中观察到的对比度水平密切相关。这表明这里展示的基于单通道柔性波导的太赫兹内窥镜代表了太赫兹技术在临床内镜应用中朝着体内癌症筛查迈出的重要一步。
