Multi-contrast laser endoscopy for in vivo gastrointestinal imaging
Journal:
arXiv
Published Date:
May 15, 2025
Abstract
White light endoscopy is the clinical gold standard for detecting diseases in
the gastrointestinal tract. Most applications involve identifying visual
abnormalities in tissue color, texture, and shape. Unfortunately, the contrast
of these features is often subtle, causing many clinically relevant cases to go
undetected. To overcome this challenge, we introduce Multi-contrast Laser
Endoscopy (MLE): a platform for widefield clinical imaging with rapidly tunable
spectral, coherent, and directional illumination. We demonstrate three
capabilities of MLE: enhancing tissue chromophore contrast with multispectral
diffuse reflectance, quantifying blood flow using laser speckle contrast
imaging, and characterizing mucosal topography using photometric stereo. We
validate MLE with benchtop models, then demonstrate MLE in vivo during clinical
colonoscopies. MLE images from 31 polyps demonstrate an approximate three-fold
improvement in contrast and a five-fold improvement in color difference
compared to white light and narrow band imaging. With the ability to reveal
multiple complementary types of tissue contrast while seamlessly integrating
into the clinical environment, MLE shows promise as an investigative tool to
improve gastrointestinal imaging.
