| abstract |
A balloon-type catheter is provided with an integral optical system utilizing illuminating fibers made of optical grade plastic, and an imaging bundle of many very small, flexible, fused glass fibers of pixels doped to increase the index of refraction and cladded together by doped glass with a much lower index of refraction than the pixels. A gradient index objective lens in the form of a cylinder of optical quality glass is attached to the distal end of the imaging fiber bundle. An inflation lumen is provided in the catheter for inflating the balloon, and a separate lumen conducts optically-transparent liquids to flush the field of view. The resulting catheter can be very small in diameter, is very flexible and is sufficiently inexpensive to be practically disposable. |