Imaging of surgical biopsies
US7227630B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 13, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jun 5, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 13, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B21/0028
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
In order to determine, rapidly and without the delay required by conventional tissue preparation techniques for pathological examination (freezing, sectioning, staining, etc.), whether, an excision, which may be a biopsy sample, is representative of the morphology of interest of whether an excisional biopsy in which the tissue taken completely removes the abnormality is, in either case, the tissue which is desired to be excisioned, the tissue specimen (18) in encapsulated, preferably as part of the biopsy procedure. The encapsulated tissue is contained in an optically transparent cassette (34). The cassette (34) or an endcap (38) enclosing the cassette is marked with a fiducial (40) indicating and corresponding to the location of the excision on the patient's body. An image, which is preferably a representation of a surface of the tissue specimen and the vertical section(s) area of the tissue internal of the specimen and adjacent to a surface thereof, is obtained by means of an electro-optical imaging system (10), preferably a confocal laser scanning microscope. The cassette is moved, preferably in a stage (22) which rotates the cassette while translating it, so that the head (12) …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.