Multiphoton imaging in conjunction with ICG imaging by a rigid endomicroscope combined with laser ablation in the head and neck region

Here, we present a new handheld multiphoton endomicroscopic system designed for tumor diagnosis in the head and neck region. It consists of an approx. 25 cm long rigid endomicroscopic probe with two variants (0° and 45° bended tip), connected to a handheld scan-head. The system can achieve a field of view ⪆ 600 µm for coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and other nonlinear imaging modalities by a non-descanned detection, and using a descanned confocal imaging channel to detect light from tissue labeled with indocyanine green (ICG). Furthermore, high-power femtosecond laser pulses can be transmitted through the system for precise tissue ablation which was considered in the optical design of the probe.