7th Annual BMRP Investigator Meeting - Abstract

Fiber Optic Shape Tracking to Improve Inflammatory Bowel Disease Diagnosis 

Caroline G.L. Cao^1,a, Jessica Eisenstein¹, Robb Gavalis¹, Lothar Lilge² and Peter Y. Wong<sup>1

1</sup>Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.); ²Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto (Ontario, Toronto, Canada)

Colonoscopy is the current gold standard for inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis and colorectal cancer screening. Difficulties in performing colonoscopy, such as looping in the colon and disorientation, are due to the limited control of directing the flexible endoscope through the non-rigid colon and the near-blind navigation through the patient’s colon. A new shape tracking technology is being investigated to provide the endoscopist with a navigational aid. The key enabling technology for this navigational aid is a shape tracking sensor (inserted into the biopsy channel) that utilizes a single optical fiber with differentiable quantum dots embedded along the fiber. The 3D shape of the fiber-scope coupling can be rendered and superimposed on the endoscopic image in an augmented reality display. Results include the successful modification of multi-mode fibers of silica-core/polymer-cladding with embedded quantum dots in two sensorized regions (i.e., different z positions). Each sensorized region has three 150-μm holes in the cladding layer, spaced 120 degrees apart from each other around the fiber core, enabling pitch and yaw measurements. Emission spectra of the quantum dots, in response to excitation light, as a function of fiber bending, have demonstrated proof-of-concept and feasibility. Further research will focus on analyzing more quantum dots and the construction of a multi-segment sensing fiber.

^aPrincipal Investigator