Torque coil-based, highly-flexible photoacoustic and ultrasonic mini-probe for use in the instrument channel of a clinical video endoscope

Abstract

This will present the first in vivo demonstration of an optical-resolution photoacoustic and ultrasonic mini-probe embodied in a highly-flexible form based on a torque toil to provide co-registered images through the standard instrument channel of a clinical video endoscope. Although there was an anticipation that photoacoustic endoscopy could make a significant contribution to gastrointestinal endoscopy and thus there were multiple reports demonstrating sufficient probe miniaturization smaller than the channel sizes, no actual in vivo image acquisition has yet been reported thus far. In this study, through an instrument channel, we acquired the first in vivo photoacoustic and ultrasonic endoscopic images from the esophagogastric junction of a swine.