Method and apparatus for obtaining an optical tomographic image of a sentinel lymph node

Abstract

An apparatus for obtaining a cellular image to be used in performing a test for pathology of the sentinel lymph node, which is the first lymph node a cancer metastasizes to. The gamma radiation emitted from a near-infrared fluorescent colorant injected in advance into the vicinity of a tumor is detected by use of a gamma-probe. A fiber coupler separates the low-coherence light emitted from the light source of an OCT portion (Optical Coherence Tomography) into a signal-light to be projected onto the sentinel lymph node and a reference-light whose wavelength is slightly shifted. The signal-light is projected onto the sentinel lymph node, and interference is caused between the signal-light reflected from a predetermined depth within the sentinel lymph node and the reference-light. A balance differential detector measures the intensity of the interference-light, and a cellular level ultra high-resolution optical tomographic image of the sentinel lymph node is obtained.

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