Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim
136 words
A spectroscopic method of analyzing tissue, comprising: illuminating a region of tissue with a first light source to induce an inelastically scattering emission from the tissue in a range of wavelengths; illuminating the region of tissue with a second white light source to induce diffuse reflectance of light from the tissue; collecting inelastically scattering radiation emitted from the tissue at the wavelengths in the range of wavelengths; collecting diffuse reflectance radiation emitted from the tissue at the wavelengths within the range of wavelengths of the inelastically scattering emission; coupling the collected inelastically scattering and diffuse reflectance emissions to a spectral analyzer; and determining intrinsic inelastic scattering of the tissue at each wavelength within the range of wavelengths by adjusting the collected inelastically scattering radiation at each wavelength with the collected diffuse reflectance at the same wavelength.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
136 words
A spectroscopic method of analyzing tissue, comprising: illuminating a region of tissue with a first light source to induce an inelastically scattering emission from the tissue in a range of wavelengths; illuminating the region of tissue with a second white light source to induce diffuse reflectance of light from the tissue; collecting inelastically scattering radiation emitted from the tissue at the wavelengths in the range of wavelengths; collecting diffuse reflectance radiation emitted from the tissue at the wavelengths within the range of wavelengths of the inelastically scattering emission; coupling the collected inelastically scattering and diffuse reflectance emissions to a spectral analyzer; and determining intrinsic inelastic scattering of the tissue at each wavelength within the range of wavelengths by adjusting the collected inelastically scattering radiation at each wavelength with the collected diffuse reflectance at the same wavelength.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 1 wherein, the step of collecting inelastically scattering radiation comprises collecting fluorescence emission.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
58 words
The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of deconvolving the intrinsic fluorescence spectrum with a plurality of known fluorophoric lineshapes to determine the best lineshape fit to the intrinsic fluorescence spectrum; determining the presence and concentration of the known fluorophoric elements from the best fit lineshape; and diagnosing the tissue from the determined fluorophoric element concentrations.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 2, wherein the determining step comprises generating an approximation of an intrinsic fluorescence spectrum φ(λ m ) of the tissue which is proportional to a measured bulk fluorescence F(λ m ) divided by an effective form R eff of a measured diffuse reflectance R.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
75 words
The method of claim 4, wherein the effective reflectance R eff is related to the measured reflectance R by the relationship ##EQU53## where g is the anisotropy coefficient, g eff is the effective anisotropy coefficient, r d is the probability of a photon being internally reflected at a tissue boundary, and, μ s , (λ m ) and μ s , (λ x ) are the scattering coefficients for the incident and fluorescence wavelengths, respectively.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 5, wherein r d is equal to about 0 for index-matched boundary conditions.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 5, wherein r d is equal to about 0.53 for index-mismatched boundary conditions and refractive indices of about 1.4.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of claim 5 wherein μ s (λ x ) and μ s (μ m ) are within the range of 0.1 mm -1 to 2.0 mm -1 , and g is , within the range of 0.68 to 0.96.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 2, wherein the step of illuminating a reqion of tissueswith a first light source comprises illuminating the region of tissue with substantially monochromatic light.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 9, wherein the step of illuminating a region of tissue with a first light source includes activating a tunable laser.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 9, wherein the step of illuminating a region of tissue with a first light source includes activating a white light source or a monochromator.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 9, wherein the step of illuminating a reqion of tissue with a first light source includes activating a laser.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
33 words
The methods of claim 9, wherein the step of illuminating a reqion of tissue with a first light source includes illuminating the tissue with monochromatic light having a wavelength of substantially 476 nm.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 2, wherein the step of illuminating the region of tissue with a second white light source includes scanning a tunable laser over a band of wavelengths.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 2, wherein the step of illuminating the region of tissue with a second white light source includes illuminating the tissue with light having wavelengths of substantially 450-650 nm.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 1, wherein the step of collecting inelastically scattering radiation comprises collecting Raman emission.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 16, wherein the step of illuminating a region of tissue with a first light source comprises generating infrared light.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising forming a simulated representation of reflectance of radiation from the tissue and comparing the representation with the collected reflectance emission.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 18 wherein the step of forming a simulated representation comprises performing a Monte Carlo simulation.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
55 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising inserting a catheter or endoscope into a bodily vascular lumen, illuminating material within the vascular lumen with light from the first source and light from the second light source through the fiber optic catheter or endoscope and collecting radiation returning from the tissue with the catheter or endoscope.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
173 words
A spectroscopic method of analyzing tissue, comprising inserting a fiber optic probe into a body lumen; illuminating a region of tissue with a first light source through the fiber optic probe to induce an inelastically scattering emission from the tissue; illuminating the region of tissue with a second light source through the fiber optic probe to induce diffuse reflectance of light from the tissue; collecting inelastically scattering radiation returning from the tissue through the fiber optic probe at a plurality of wavelengths; collecting diffuse reflectance radiation returning from the tissue through the fiber optic probe at the same plurality of wavelengths, the collected diffuse reflectance having been induced at the plurality of wavelengths upon illumination of the tissue with the second light source; coupling the collected inelastically scattering and diffuse reflectance radiation from the fiber optic probe to a spectral analyzer; and determining intrinsic inelastic scattering of the tissue at the plurality of radiation by adjusting the collected inelastically scattered wavelength at each wavelength with the collected diffuse reflectance at the same wavelength.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
173 words
A spectroscopic method of analyzing tissue, comprising inserting a fiber optic probe into a body lumen; illuminating a region of tissue with a first light source through the fiber optic probe to induce an inelastically scattering emission from the tissue; illuminating the region of tissue with a second light source through the fiber optic probe to induce diffuse reflectance of light from the tissue; collecting inelastically scattering radiation returning from the tissue through the fiber optic probe at a plurality of wavelengths; collecting diffuse reflectance radiation returning from the tissue through the fiber optic probe at the same plurality of wavelengths, the collected diffuse reflectance having been induced at the plurality of wavelengths upon illumination of the tissue with the second light source; coupling the collected inelastically scattering and diffuse reflectance radiation from the fiber optic probe to a spectral analyzer; and determining intrinsic inelastic scattering of the tissue at the plurality of radiation by adjusting the collected inelastically scattered wavelength at each wavelength with the collected diffuse reflectance at the same wavelength.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 21 further comprising determining whether the tissue is cancerous, pre-cancerous or noncancerous.