| abstract |
A method and apparatus for characterizing tissue of epithelial lined viscus in vivo including, for example, the endocervical canal. The method comprises illuminating an interior surface of the viscus with electromagnetical radiation wavelengths to produce a plurality of fluorescence intensity spectra, detecting a plurality of emission wavelengths from the fluorescence intensity spectra, and characterizing the epithelial viscus tissue as a function of the emission wavelengths. The apparatus includes a light source (17, 18) of emitting a plurality of electromagnetic radiation wavelengths, an optical probe (11) connected to the light source, the probe (11) being adapted to apply the plurality of electromagnetic radiation wavelengths to an interior surface of epithelial viscus tissue under test and to gather fluorescence emitted from the tissue, a detector (24, 26) connected to the probe for detecting at least one fluorescence spectrum emitted from the tissue under test and a programmed computer (29) connected to the detector for processing the at least one fluorescence spectrum according to a predetermined algorithm to characterize the tissue under test. |