Rigid endomicroscopic system for multiphoton imaging and tissue ablation in the head and neck region

Here, we present a new handheld multiphoton endomicroscopic system 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 techniques by a non-descanned detection channel, and laser confocal imaging with indocyanine green (ICG) by a descanned detection channel. Furthermore, high-power femtosecond laser pulses can be transmitted through the system for precise tissue ablation without the risk of damaging the optical components.