Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Komachi. et. al.. 2005,. Albertazzi. et. al.. 2008,. Harzic. et. al.. 2009).. In. general,. the. two. main.
disadvantages.of.currently.available.endoscopes.are.related.irst.to.the.fact.that.their.external.
diameter. is. relatively. large. and. thus. in. many. cases. their. usage. requires. invasive. medical.
intervention..Second,.usually.the.endoscopes.are.not.multifunctional,.i.e.,.one.endoscope.is.
used.to.obtain.medical.images.of.the.internal.organ.and.another.endoscope.goes.inside.to.
perform.the.medical.treatment.procedure..This.splitting.of.functionality.and.the.fact.that.
the.device.needs.irst.to.be.inserted.into.the.body.of.the.patient,.then.to.be.pulled.out,.and.
inserted.again,.causes.inaccuracy.in.the.applied.medical.treatment.
Note.that.there.are.competitive.solutions.to.endoscopy.that,.for.instance,.involve.a.pill.
swallowed.by.the.patient,.which.is.capable.of.capturing.images.of.internal.organs.while.
passing.through.the.stomach.and.then.the.intestine.(Panescu.2005).
In.this.chapter.we.present.the.development.of.special.multi-functional.micro.probe.that.
is. created. by. combining. hollow. regions. (capillaries). of. a. holey. structure. together. with.
non-hollow.regions.to.form.multiple.cores,.some.of.which.are.made.of.appropriate.elec-
trically.conductive.material..Some.are.non-hollow.cores.(rods).that.are.used.for.photonic.
transmission.
The.probe.can.penetrate.into.brain.tissue.or.go.inside.blood.vessels.with.minimal.invasive.
damage.due.to.its.small.diameter.(100-200.μm)..When.inside,.it.can.be.used.for.high.reso-
lution. imaging—e.g.,. from. deep. cortical. layers. or. deep. brain. structures. (while. the. high.
resolution.image.from.inside.the.tissue.is.transmitted.backward.using.the.multiple.cores.
of.the.iber-based.probe)—as.well.as.for.various.medical-related.inspection.purposes,.or.
for.performing.medical.treatment.
Note.that.multi-core.ibers.were.previously.proven.to.be.suitable.to.perform.high.qual-
ity. imaging. tasks. (Tang. and. Zhao. 1992).. An. overview. of. the. state. of. the. art. of. in. vivo.
luorescence.imaging.with.high.resolution.micro.lenses.is.presented.(Flusberg.et.al..2005,.
Llewellyn.et.al..2008,.Barretto.et.al..2009)..A.demonstration.of.this.micro.endoscope.for.in.
vivo.brain.luorescence.imaging.application.is.depicted.(Flusberg.et.al..2005,.Deisseroth.
et.al..2006,.Piyawattanametha.et.al..2009).
In.order.to.validate.the.theory,.we.have.fabricated.multi-core.ibers.having.a.total.external.
diameters.of.100.and.200.μm..Both.of.them.have.the.same.number.of.pixels.(i.e.,.different.
core.to.cladding.ratio)..The.multi-core.iber.may.provide.several.medical.related.function-
alities.applied.with.high.spatial.localization..Some.selective.functionalities.include.local-
ized. thermo. cooler/heater. to. be. applied. for. blocking. of. blood. vessels,. e.g.,. against. “cold.
womb”.or.for.treating.prostate.cancer.or.for.thermotherapy.(by.realizing.a.thermo.electric.
cooler.or.a.Peltier.junction.by.interlacing.between.the.photonic.cores.and.two.electrically.
conductive.wires.made.out.of.different.metallic.materials.or.by.sputtering.metallic.materi-
als.on.the.two.faces.of.the.rectangular.shape.of.the.micro.probe),.high.resolution.imaging.
containing.up.to.a.few.tens.of.thousands.of.spatial.pixels.transmitted.from.the.tip.of.the.
probe.backward.toward.back-positioned.imaging.camera,.injection.of.light.through.some.
of.its.non-hollow.photonic.cores,.and.injection.of.chemicals.through.the.hollow.cores.or.
sucking.them.out.by.using.the.chemo-capillarity.effect.
The. high. resolution. imaging. capability. and. the. fact. that. the. edge. of. the. micro. probe.
is. very. thin. allow. localized. biomedical. inspection,. visualization,. and. treatment. with.
minimal.invasive.damage..In.this.chapter.we.intend.to.present.preliminary.experimental.
results.containing.the.capturing.of.a.high.resolution.image.that.is.transmitted.backward.
through.the.proposed.probe.
Note.that.the.proposed.probe.being.realized.is.tens.of.times.smaller.in.comparison.to.a.
commonly.used.endoscope.(Dumortier.et.al..1999)..It.does.not.provide.only.spatial.resolu-
tion.that.is.as.good,.but.it.also.enables.multifunctionalities.of.medical.treatment.obtained.
