Optical Biopsy
with CONFOCAL
MICROENDOSCOPY
Arthur F. Gmitro and Andrew R. Rouse
Using optical biopsy methods, doctors can potentially
identify cancer and other conditions more accurately, in
less time, and earlier in the course of disease than they
can with standard screening techniques. Several real-time optical imaging systems are already commercially
available, and researchers are looking to further improve
the technology.
dvanced medical imaging procedures such as
computed tomography,
ultrasound and mag-
netic resonance imaging have greatly
improved physicians’ ability to detect
cancer and other diseases. However, in
order to make a definitive diagnosis,
doctors often need to extract one or
more tissue samples from a patient.
This process is not only invasive, but
can lead to high rates of misdiagnoses,
especially when the disease is diffuse or
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1047-6938/09/11/0028/6-$15.00 ©OSA
