Raman endoscopy

Harrington JA (2003) Infrared fibers and their applications. Chap 1. SPIE, Bellingham, WA Katagiri T, Komachi Y, Hattori Y, Matsuura Y, Miyagi M, Tashiro H, Sato H (2006) Hollow-optical fiber probe for confocal Raman endoscopy. Proc SPIE 6083 60830 Komachi Y, Sato H, Aizawa K, Tashiro H (2005) Micro-optical fiber probe for use in an intravascular Raman endoscope. Appl Opt 44 4722-4732... 

Miniaturized Raman probes are potentially powerful tools for in situ diagnoses deep inside the human body, if used inside a catheter or in combination with an endoscope. Since a Raman probe is usually used with other techniques, such as endoscopy and ultrasound imaging, it may be regarded as an assist device. Therefore, Raman probes must be designed to fit the system with which they will be used. 

Molckovsky et al. succeeded in differentiating adenomatous from hyperplastic polyps during a gastrointestinal endoscopy [25]. Figure 2.9 shows the in vivo Raman spectra of adenomatous compared with hyperplastic polyps. 

Fig. 13.1. Raman spectroscopy for cancer diagnosis - a multipronged approach (a) in vivo endoscopy, (b) advanced pathology (unstained molecular imaging) and (c) deep probing...

Another point that needs to be addressed in order to increase its applicability is the combination of Raman spectroscopy with existing clinical techniques, such as intravascular ultrasound, for characterization of atherosclerotic plaque, or endoscopy. 

M.G. Shim, L.M. Song, N.E. Marcon, B.C. Wilson, In vivo near infrared Raman spectroscopy demonstration of feasibility during clinical gastrointestinal endoscopy. Photochem. Photobiol. 72, 146 (2000)... 

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