Non-Contact Tumor Imager for Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery - Application to animal experiment -

This paper discusses a proposed Non-Contact Tumor Imager capable of detecting a lung tumor for application during Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS); this imager is based on the phase differential technique. The developed sensor comprises an air supply system and an optical fiber-based distance sensor adjacent to the air nozzle. A removed human lung was used to assess the performance of the developed sensor. With regard to clinical application, both the tumor detection capability and the safety to the lung tissues of the developed sensor were confirmed through in vivo experiments using pig lungs.