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WO-2026091444-A1 - TISSUE IMAGING METHOD AND SYSTEM

WO2026091444A1WO 2026091444 A1WO2026091444 A1WO 2026091444A1WO-2026091444-A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of fluorescence analysis, and in particular to a tissue imaging method and system. The method comprises: a fluorescence excitation unit irradiates a target tissue with a single excitation light to form a light spot on the target tissue, wherein the target tissue comprises a tumor tissue and a non-tumor tissue; a signal collection unit collects a fluorescence signal having a waveband of 1100 nm to 1700 nm and filtered by a filter set, and sends same to a computer processing unit, wherein the fluorescence signal is autofluorescence generated after the target tissue is irradiated with the light spot; and the computer processing unit generates a first fluorescence image on the basis of the received fluorescence signal, and obtains, on the basis of the signal intensity of a fluorescence signal at each pixel point position on the first fluorescence image, a second fluorescence image indicating a tumor tissue region and a non-tumor tissue region. The beneficial effects of the present invention are that the signals are not easily interfered by other factors, and the generated images have high signal-to-noise ratio, and have strong specificity and accuracy.

Inventors

  • ZHANG, FAN
  • HE, Haisheng

Assignees

  • 复旦大学

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20250506
Priority Date
20241101

Claims (9)

  1. A tissue imaging method, characterized in that it includes: S01. The fluorescence excitation unit uniformly irradiates the target tissue with excitation light, forming a light spot on the target tissue, the light spot covering the target tissue; the target tissue includes tumor tissue and non-tumor tissue; the excitation light is a single excitation light of any wavelength between 740nm and 780nm or between 800nm and 810nm; the power density of the excitation light is used in the range of 5mW/ cm² to 25mW/ cm² ; the size of the light spot is in the range of 100cm² to 300cm² . S02, the signal collection unit collects the fluorescence signal in the 1100nm-1700nm band after filtering by the filter group and sends it to the computer processing unit; the fluorescence signal is the autofluorescence generated by the target tissue after being irradiated by the light spot; S03. The computer processing unit generates a first fluorescence image based on the received fluorescence signal, and obtains a second fluorescence image indicating the tumor tissue region and the non-tumor tissue region based on the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at each pixel position in the first fluorescence image; in the second fluorescence image, the ratio of the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel position in the non-tumor tissue region to the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel position in the tumor tissue region is greater than 1.
  2. The tissue imaging method according to claim 1, wherein step S01 further comprises: The exposure time of the excitation light is adjusted to a range of 200ms to 500ms.
  3. The tissue imaging method according to claim 1 is characterized in that, The filter group includes a 900nm long-pass filter, a 950nm long-pass filter, a 1000nm long-pass filter, and an 1100nm long-pass filter; In the second fluorescence image, the ratio of the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the non-tumor tissue region to the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the tumor tissue region is greater than 2.
  4. The tissue imaging method according to claim 1 is characterized in that, The wavelength of the excitation light is 760 nm, and the power density is used in the range of 5 mW/ cm² to 15 mW/ cm² . The size of the light spot ranges from 200 cm² to 300 cm² . In the second fluorescence image, the ratio of the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the non-tumor tissue region to the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the tumor tissue region is 4 to 10.
  5. The tissue imaging method according to claim 1, wherein step S03 comprises: S03-1. The computer processing unit generates a first fluorescence image based on the received fluorescence signal; S03-2, The computer processing unit compares the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at each pixel position in the first fluorescence image with a first threshold, and obtains a process image that indicates the tumor tissue area, non-tumor tissue area and background area based on the comparison result; S03-3, The computer processing unit enhances the signal of the tumor tissue region and the non-tumor tissue region in the process image, eliminates the signal of the background region, and obtains a second fluorescence image in which the ratio of the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the non-tumor tissue region to the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the tumor tissue region is 6 to 10.
  6. The tissue imaging method according to claim 5, wherein step S03-2 comprises: The first fluorescence image is grayscaled to obtain a grayscale matrix of the first fluorescence image; and a process image indicating the tumor tissue region, non-tumor tissue region and background region is obtained based on the grayscale matrix and a first threshold; the grayscale matrix is a matrix composed of grayscale values obtained after grayscaled processing of each pixel position in the first fluorescence image.
  7. The tissue imaging method according to claim 6, wherein the first threshold is obtained based on the grayscale matrix and Formula 1; Formula 1 is: Where I1 to In are the gray values of all pixels in the gray matrix arranged from smallest to largest, I1 is the gray value of the pixel with the smallest gray value in the gray matrix, In is the gray value of the pixel with the largest gray value in the gray matrix, Ii is the larger gray value among the two adjacent gray values with the largest difference, and Ii -1 is the smaller gray value among the two adjacent gray values with the largest difference.
  8. The tissue imaging method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is characterized in that the non-tumor tissue includes normal tissue and/or non-malignant lesion tissue.
  9. A tissue imaging system, characterized in that it comprises: The fluorescence excitation unit is used to emit excitation light into the target tissue, forming a light spot on the target tissue; A filter array is used to filter the fluorescence signal, which is the autofluorescence produced by lipofuscin in the target tissue after being irradiated by a light spot; The signal collection unit is used to collect the filtered fluorescence signal and send it to the computer processing unit; A computer processing unit is used to obtain a second fluorescence image that indicates the tumor tissue area and the non-tumor tissue area based on the received fluorescence signal; The angle between the optical path of the signal collection unit receiving the fluorescence signal and the optical path of the single excitation light generated by the fluorescence excitation unit is between 0° and 90°, and the computer processing unit is communicatively connected to the signal collection unit. When the fluorescence excitation unit emits excitation light toward the target tissue, the system performs the tissue imaging method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

Description

A tissue imaging method and system Technical Field This invention relates to the field of fluorescence analysis technology, and more particularly to a tissue imaging method and system. Background Technology Malignant tumors (cancer) have become one of the major factors affecting human health and lifespan, and their clinical treatment currently relies heavily on surgical resection. However, due to the lack of real-time, highly accurate, and specific intraoperative imaging technologies, surgeons still face significant challenges in accurately identifying intact tumor boundaries during surgery. Studies have shown that the different optical properties of malignant tumors and normal tissues, such as elastic scattering, stimulated Raman scattering, light reflection, and autofluorescence, can be used to identify malignant tumor tissues. Among these, autofluorescence imaging technology can achieve real-time tumor imaging by differentiating the differences in endogenous fluorescent substances between diseased and normal tissues, aided by endoscopes or wide-field imaging systems. However, existing autofluorescence imaging systems do not have high specificity for identifying malignant tumors, and their signals are easily interfered with by endogenous pigments such as heme. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a tissue image processing technology that can clearly display images of non-tumor and tumor tissues, with a high signal-to-noise ratio and good specificity. Summary of the Invention (a) Technical problems to be solved In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings and deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides a tissue imaging method and system, which solves the technical problems of low fluorescence signal specificity and easy interference from other endogenous pigments in the autofluorescence of tissue cells, as well as the technical problems of low signal-to-noise ratio and easy interference from background noise. (II) Technical Solution To achieve the above objectives, the main technical solutions adopted by the present invention include: In a first aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a tissue imaging method, comprising: S01. The fluorescence excitation unit uniformly irradiates the target tissue with excitation light, forming a light spot on the target tissue, the light spot covering the target tissue; the target tissue includes tumor tissue and non-tumor tissue; the excitation light is a single excitation light of any wavelength selected from 740nm to 780nm or 800 to 810nm; S02, the signal collection unit collects the fluorescence signal in the 1100nm-1700nm band after filtering by the filter group and sends it to the computer processing unit; the fluorescence signal is the autofluorescence generated by the target tissue after being irradiated by the light spot; S03. The computer processing unit generates a first fluorescence image based on the received fluorescence signal, and obtains a second fluorescence image indicating the tumor tissue region and the non-tumor tissue region based on the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at each pixel position in the first fluorescence image; in the second fluorescence image, the ratio of the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel position in the non-tumor tissue region to the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel position in the tumor tissue region is greater than 1. Optionally, the power density of the excitation light is used in the range of 5mW/ cm² to 25mW/ cm² . The size of the light spot ranges from 100 cm² to 300 cm² . Optionally, S01 further includes: The exposure time of the excitation light is adjusted to a range of 200ms to 500ms. Optionally, the filter group includes a 900nm long-pass filter, a 950nm long-pass filter, a 1000nm long-pass filter, and an 1100nm long-pass filter; In the second fluorescence image, the ratio of the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the non-tumor tissue region to the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the tumor tissue region is greater than 2. Optionally, the wavelength of the excitation light is 760 nm, and the power density is used in the range of 5 mW/ cm² to 15 mW/ cm² . The size of the light spot ranges from 200 cm² to 300 cm² . In the second fluorescence image, the ratio of the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the non-tumor tissue region to the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at any pixel location in the tumor tissue region is 4 to 10. Optionally, S03 includes: S03-1. The computer processing unit generates a first fluorescence image based on the received fluorescence signal; S03-2, The computer processing unit compares the signal intensity of the fluorescence signal at each pixel position in the first fluorescence image with a first threshold, and obtains a process image that indicates the tumor tissue area, non-tumor tissue area