Design of a Surgical Pen-Type Probe for Real-Time Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Emission Diagnosis

The advantage of handheld type surgical microscope is that the size of the probe is small and light, and the working distance(o to 30 cm) and field of view (306°) can be adjusted. Also, a short working distance will minimize the loss of light source energy. However, the currently developed handheld type surgical microscope is still large, heavy, and uses relatively high energy (600 mW). Also, it is not suitable for portable use. To address the aforementioned problems, this study aimed to develop a pen-type surgical fluorescence microscope that is compact, portable, and has an adjustable beam angle and working distance. The pen-type probe consists of a laser diode, CMOS camera, light source brightness control device, filter, and power switch. The IR-cut filter inside the CMOS camera was removed to facilitate transmission of the fluorescence emission wavelength. In addition, a long-pass filter was attached to the camera so that the external light source was blocked and only the fluorescence emission wavelength was allowed to pass through. The pen-type probe was manufactured using 3D printing, and the captured image was designed to be observed through an external monitor. The performance of the pen-type probe was tested through a large animal experiment. Indocyanine green (2.5mg/kg) was injected into a pig's vein. Fluorescence emission of 805-830 nm was achieved by irradiating an external light source (785 nm and 4 mW/cm2), and liver-uptake occurred after 2.4 minutes.