AUTHOR=Slomka Bridget , Duan Suzann , Knapp Thomas G. , Lima Natzem , Sontz Ricky , Merchant Juanita L. , Sawyer Travis W. TITLE=Design, fabrication, and preclinical testing of a miniaturized, multispectral, chip-on-tip, imaging probe for intraluminal fluorescence imaging of the gastrointestinal tract JOURNAL=Frontiers in Photonics VOLUME=3 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/photonics/articles/10.3389/fphot.2022.1067651 DOI=10.3389/fphot.2022.1067651 ISSN=2673-6853 ABSTRACT=

Gastrointestinal cancers continue to account for a disproportionately large percentage of annual cancer deaths in the United States. Advancements in miniature imaging technology combined with a need for precise and thorough tumor detection in gastrointestinal cancer screenings fuel the demand for new, small-scale, and low-cost methods of localization and margin identification with improved accuracy. Here, we report the development of a miniaturized, chip-on-tip, multispectral, fluorescence imaging probe designed for compatibility with a gastroscope working channel with the aim of detecting cancerous lesions in point-of-care endoscopy of the gastrointestinal lumen. Preclinical testing has confirmed fluorescence sensitivity and supports that this miniature probe can locate structures of interest via detection of fluorescence emission from exogenous contrast agents. This work demonstrates the design and preliminary performance evaluation of a miniaturized, single-use, chip-on-tip fluorescence imaging system, capable of detecting multiplexed fluorophores, and devised for deployment via the accessory channel of a standard gastroscope.