光纤内部身体成像走向3D
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Researchers at the ARC Centre for Excellence in Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP) discovered an exciting new method that could make it possible to use 3D microscopy to view hard-to-reach areas of the human body. 这种方法使用 光纤束 to miniaturize a type of 3D imaging called “light field imaging.” Taken to extreme new levels, this imaging could make in-body use possible.
This method could find widespread use in diagnostic procedures called optical biopsies. In these biopsies, suspicious body tissue is investigated using medical endoscopic procedures.
直到现在, light field imaging could be performed only with bulky hardware such as camera arrays or modified consumer cameras. Instead of trying to shrink existing equipment, the researchers realized that 光纤束 already used routinely in microendoscopy were actually suitable light field imaging devices.
光纤束 are groups of tens of thous和s of microscopic 光纤. Each fiber in the bundle acts like a pixel in a camera. The result produced is a 2D image that is transmitted through the fiber bundle.
同时录制一张2D图片, light field imaging systems also measure the incoming angles of all light rays in the picture. 有了这些信息, doctors can map the picture in stereo 3D in the same way that humans perceive depth. 据研究人员称, the primary challenge will be how to record this angular light ray dimension that is often hard to capture.
据博士说. 安东尼·奥尔特, project lead 和 Research Fellow at the RMIT University node of the CNBP, “The key observation we made is that light ray orientation information is actually transmitted by the 光纤束 到显微内窥镜. You just need to know what to look for 和 how to decode it.”
Dr. 奥斯认为, 只要有正确的数学框架, 研究人员可以解码这些模式, 将它们转换成光场, 做一些不可思议的事情，比如重新集中注意力, depth mapping 和 visualizing the image in stereo 3D. He believes that this light field technology could potentially bring an entirely new depth dimension into optical biopsies. This capability would let doctors examine suspect tissue without removing a sample from the patient.
The research group is meeting with physicians to discuss how to test this technique in medical clinics 和 to also identify the medical procedures most likely to benefit from 3D visualization in the microscale.
A new, air-filled optical fiber bundle could dramatically improve medical endoscopes. This technology could also help create endoscopes that produce images using infrared wavelengths. If so, this breakthrough would allow diagnostic procedures that aren’t currently possible.