UV Single-Plane Tissue Imaging for Rapid Surgical Margin Assessment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current histopathological methods for surgical margin assessment are laborious and time-consuming, and existing optical imaging techniques face challenges in providing rapid, label-free, and high-resolution imaging of large surgical specimens with sufficient depth-of-field and penetration depth, especially in irregular tissues, which are critical for intraoperative surgical guidance.
Innovation Solution
An imaging system utilizing ultraviolet single-plane illumination (MUSI) with a dual-axis configuration that decouples illumination and detection paths, leveraging intrinsic fluorescence and a movable specimen-holding platform with a prism-like structure to achieve high spatial resolution and long depth-of-field, enabling rapid and label-free imaging of biological tissues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional histopathological methods (FFPE) are used for surgical margin assessment, then diagnostic accuracy is maintained, but imaging time and labor requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical and chemical processes of conventional histopathology (tissue fixation, embedding, sectioning, staining) with an optical imaging system that uses ultraviolet light to excite intrinsic fluorophores in fresh tissue, enabling rapid label-free imaging without physical sectioning or chemical staining
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes intrinsic fluorophores naturally present in biological tissues (such as NADH, FAD, collagen, elastin) as contrast agents, eliminating the need for exogenous stains or labels. The tissue itself provides the necessary optical contrast through its endogenous fluorescent properties
2Loss of time
If frozen section imaging is used to reduce turnaround time, then imaging speed improves, but sampling limitations and freezing artifacts reduce diagnostic accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The system images fresh, unprocessed tissue directly, eliminating the need for freezing or chemical fixation. The intrinsic fluorophores in native tissue provide sufficient contrast for accurate margin assessment without introducing freezing artifacts or sampling limitations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and eliminates the problematic intermediate steps of tissue processing (freezing, sectioning, staining) while retaining the essential function of margin assessment through direct optical imaging of intact tissue
3Measurement precision
If exogenous fluorophores are used for contrast enhancement, then cellular feature specificity improves, but patient safety and tissue integrity are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses endogenous fluorophores naturally present in all biological tissues as contrast agents, completely eliminating the need for exogenous stains or labels. This provides sufficient cellular feature specificity for surgical margin assessment without introducing any toxic substances or compromising tissue integrity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the naturally occurring endogenous fluorophores, which were previously considered insufficient for high-contrast imaging, into powerful contrast agents through ultraviolet excitation, achieving both safety and diagnostic accuracy
4Loss of time
If reflectance-based methods (OCT, RCM) are used for rapid imaging, then imaging speed improves, but cellular content detail is insufficient for internal organ diagnosis
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces reflectance-based detection with fluorescence-based detection using ultraviolet excitation. The emitted fluorescence from endogenous fluorophores provides rich cellular content information and molecular specificity that exceeds the capabilities of reflectance methods like OCT and RCM
5Measurement precision
If photoacoustic microscopy is used for spectral probing, then molecular target specificity improves, but imaging throughput decreases for large surgical specimens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces sequential beam scanning with a wide-field optical imaging approach using ultraviolet light sheet illumination. This enables parallel detection of fluorescence signals across the entire surgical specimen, achieving both molecular target specificity and high imaging throughput for large tissue samples
6Measurement precision
If nonlinear microscopy is used for high-resolution imaging, then resolution and label-free capability improve, but imaging speed and accessibility deteriorate due to sequential scanning and equipment cost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces sequential beam scanning with wide-field light sheet illumination that captures the entire field of view simultaneously. This maintains high spatial resolution through intrinsic fluorescence while achieving rapid imaging speeds and using accessible, cost-effective equipment
7Productivity
If CHAMP method is used for rapid label-free imaging, then imaging speed improves, but depth-of-field is restricted to 80 μm which is insufficient for irregular resection tissues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the excitation wavelength to ultraviolet range and uses light sheet illumination geometry to achieve a significantly extended depth of field (200 μm or more) compared to CHAMP, while maintaining rapid imaging speed and label-free operation. The dual-axis configuration decouples illumination from detection paths to overcome the inherent trade-off between depth of field and spatial resolution
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 MUSI system provides rapid, non-destructive, and high-resolution imaging of both ex vivo and in vivo biological tissues, overcoming limitations of existing methods by ensuring sufficient depth-of-field and penetration depth, facilitating real-time surgical guidance and diagnostic accuracy.
Implementation Method 1
The present MUSI takes advantages of intrinsic fluorescence from biological tissues as a source of contrast with a deep-UV excitation
Data Source
AI summary
A rapid, label-free, non-destructive imaging method and system (100) for unprocessed biological tissue, which is based on microscopy with ultraviolet single plane illumination (MUSI). The present system (100) or method employs a selective two-axis planar illumination configuration, which decouples the illumination from the detection path, and utilize the intrinsic fluorescence of certain endogenous fluorophores from biological tissues as a natural source compared to deep UV illumination sources. In contrast to images produced by clinical standard methods (i.e. H&E staining of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues), images generated by MUSI reveal comparable or even better diagnostic features, providing clinicians, pathologists, and surgeons with greater potential as post-operative and intra-operative diagnostic tools.