Leached Fiber Bundle for Intracoronary Speckle Imaging
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current laser speckle imaging technologies face challenges in accurately analyzing plaque mechanical stability due to motion artifacts and inter-fiber crosstalk in optical fiber bundles, which affect the accuracy of speckle pattern analysis during catheter-based imaging in coronary arteries.
Innovation Solution
A miniaturized intracoronary catheter system with a leached fiber bundle and advanced motor drive assembly for helical scanning, combined with a high-speed console, is used to minimize motion artifacts and reduce inter-fiber crosstalk, enabling precise measurement of plaque viscoelastic properties by analyzing speckle decorrelation time constants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If optical fiber bundles are used for light delivery and collection in laser speckle imaging, then light collection efficiency and imaging resolution are improved, but inter-fiber crosstalk and mode coupling occur which severely affect image quality and speckle pattern accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the cladding layer from optical fibers to create leached fibers. This extraction process eliminates the source of inter-fiber crosstalk by removing the cladding that enables mode field overlap between adjacent fibers, while preserving the core structures necessary for light transmission and speckle pattern collection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces air gaps as intermediaries between adjacent fiber cores in the leached fiber bundle. These air gaps act as optical isolators that prevent mode field overlap and eliminate coupling between adjacent fibers, thereby reducing inter-fiber crosstalk while maintaining the bundle's flexibility and light collection capability.
2Measurement precision
If high core density fiber bundles are used to achieve high resolution imaging, then imaging resolution is improved, but coupling between adjacent fibers increases which modulates transmitted speckles and reduces LSI analysis accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cladding from each fiber to create leached fibers with exposed cores. This extraction increases the effective core-to-core spacing while maintaining bundle compactness, thereby reducing coupling between adjacent cores and eliminating the modulation of transmitted speckles that occurs in conventional high-density fiber bundles.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different structural characteristics to different regions of the fiber bundle: the cores maintain high density for light collection efficiency, while the removed cladding regions create isolation zones that prevent coupling. This local differentiation allows simultaneous achievement of high resolution and reliable speckle temporal statistics.
3Ease of operation
If fiber bundles are used for intracoronary imaging, then minimally-invasive access is enabled, but motion artifacts occur due to bulk motion of surrounding tissue which causes time-varying core coupling and erroneous speckle temporal statistics
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes cladding from fibers to create leached fiber bundles that are inherently less sensitive to motion-induced coupling. The increased separation between exposed cores reduces the impact of relative motion between adjacent fibers, thereby minimizing time-varying core coupling and motion artifacts during intracoronary imaging procedures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides high-resolution, motion-stable imaging of coronary artery viscoelasticity, allowing for accurate identification of vulnerable plaques and potentially reducing acute myocardial infarction incidence by enabling early intervention.
Implementation Method 1
a fiber optic bundle comprising a plurality of core fibers each having a core diameter of 3.0 μm±0.3 μm with a fluctuation in core diameter of ±0.03 μm to ±0.3 μm, a numerical aperture of at least 0.35, and the fiber optic bundle having a core spacing of 8.0 μm±0.5 μm
Implementation Method 2
A at least partially reflective arrangement can have multiple surfaces, where the reflecting arrangement can be situated with respect to the optical arrangement such that the surfaces thereof each can receive a(s) beam of the electromagnetic radiations instantaneously
Implementation Method 3
Laser speckle patterns (see, e.g., References 96 and 97) can be granular intensity patterns that can arise from the interference of coherent light scattered from randomly distributed light scattering particles
Implementation Method 4
The scattered photons can experience different path lengths. The phase difference between partial waves can cause constructive or destructive interference
Implementation Method 5
Previous experiments have demonstrated leached fiber bundles can effectively reduce the cross talk between cores, and can obtain a relatively stable temporal decorrelation function of transmitted speckles during bundles motion because of large core-to-core separation due to manufacturing processes of leached fiber bundle
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for obtaining information regarding a biological structure(s) can include, for example a light guiding arrangement which can include a fiber through which an electromagnetic radiation(s) can be propagated, where the electromagnetic radiation can be provided to or from the structure. An at least partially reflective arrangement can have multiple surfaces, where the reflecting arrangement can be situated with respect to the optical arrangement such that the surfaces thereof each can receive a(s) beam of the electromagnetic radiations instantaneously, and a receiving arrangement(s) which can be configured to receive the reflected radiation from the surfaces which include speckle patterns.