Purpose

Multiple studies have shown that spectral analysis of tissue autofluorescence can be used as a live indicator for various pathophysiological states of cardiac tissue, including ischemia, ablation-induced damage, or scar formation. Yet today there are no percutaneous devices that can detect autofluorescence signals from inside a beating heart. Our aim was to develop a prototype catheter to demonstrate the feasibility of doing so.

Methods and Results

Here we summarize technical solutions leading to the development of a percutaneous catheter capable of multispectral imaging of intracardiac surfaces. The process included several iterations of light sources, optical filtering, and image acquisition techniques. The developed system included a compliant balloon, 355 nm laser irradiance, a high-sensitivity CCD, bandpass filtering, and image acquisition synchronized with the cardiac cycle. It enabled us to capture autofluorescence images from multiple spectral bands within the visible range while illuminating the endocardial surface with ultraviolet light. Principal component analysis and other spectral unmixing post-processing algorithms were then used to reveal target tissue.

Conclusion

Based on the success of our prototype system, we are confident that the development of ever more sensitive cameras, recent advances in tunable filters, fiber bundles, and other optical and computational components makes it possible to create percutaneous catheters capable of acquiring hyper or multispectral hypercubes, including those based on autofluorescence, in real-time. This opens the door for widespread use of this methodology for high-resolution intraoperative imaging of internal tissues and organs—including cardiovascular applications.

中文翻译：

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用于心脏组织体内高光谱成像的经皮导管：挑战、解决方案和未来方向。

目的

多项研究表明，组织自发荧光的光谱分析可以用作心脏组织各种病理生理状态的实时指示器，包括缺血、消融引起的损伤或疤痕形成。然而，如今还没有任何经皮设备可以检测跳动心脏内部的自发荧光信号。我们的目标是开发原型导管以证明这样做的可行性。

方法和结果

在这里，我们总结了开发能够对心内表面进行多光谱成像的经皮导管的技术解决方案。该过程包括光源、光学滤波和图像采集技术的多次迭代。开发的系统包括顺应性球囊、355 nm 激光辐照度、高灵敏度 CCD、带通滤波以及与心动周期同步的图像采集。它使我们能够捕获可见光范围内多个光谱带的自发荧光图像，同时用紫外线照射心内膜表面。然后使用主成分分析和其他光谱分解后处理算法来揭示目标组织。

结论

基于我们原型系统的成功，我们相信，更加灵敏的相机的开发，可调谐滤波器、光纤束以及其他光学和计算组件的最新进展，使得创建能够获取超或多光谱超立方体的经皮导管成为可能，包括基于实时自发荧光的那些。这为广泛使用这种方法进行内部组织和器官的高分辨率术中成像（包括心血管应用）打开了大门。