A multimodal spectroscopy system for real-time disease diagnosis

Abstract

The combination of reflectance, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopy—termed multimodal spectroscopy (MMS)—provides complementary and depth-sensitive information about tissue composition. As such, MMS is a promising tool for disease diagnosis, particularly in atherosclerosis and breast cancer. We have developed an integrated MMS instrument and optical fiber spectral probe for simultaneous collection of all three modalities in a clinical setting. The MMS instrument multiplexes three excitation sources, a xenon flash lamp (370–740 nm), a nitrogen laser (337 nm), and a diode laser (830 nm), through the MMS probe to excite tissue and collect the spectra. The spectra are recorded on two spectrograph/charge-coupled device modules, one optimized for visible wavelengths (reflectance and fluorescence) and the other for the near-infrared (Raman), and processed to provide diagnostic parameters. We also describe the design and calibration of a unitary MMS optical fiber probe 2 mm in outer diameter, containing a single appropriately filtered excitation fiber and a ring of 15 collection fibers, with separate groups of appropriately filtered fibers for efficiently collecting reflectance, fluorescence, and Raman spectra from the same tissue location. A probe with this excitation/collection geometry has not been used previously to collect reflectance and fluorescence spectra, and thus physical tissue models (“phantoms”) are used to characterize the probe’s spectroscopic response. This calibration provides probe-specific modeling parameters that enable accurate extraction of spectral parameters. This clinical MMS system has been used recently to analyze artery and breast tissue in vivo and ex vivo.