Needle with optical fibers

Abstract

Needle interventions are widely used in the field of oncology for taking biopsies of tissue in order to inspect whether tissue is cancerous or not. To make these interventions more reliable feedback of what kind of tissue is in front of the needle is required. A way to achieve this is by making use of optical spectroscopy. This requires integration of fibers into the needle. These fibers are used to deliver light to illuminate the tissue in front of the needle and to collect back the reflected light from the tissue. The present invention proposes to integrate the fiber distal ends in the slanted bevel of the needle in such a way that at least one source-detector fiber pair has a distance that is larger than the outer diameter of the needle.

1 . A needle ( 100 ,  200 ) comprising
 a shaft ( 110 ,  210 ),   a tip at a distal end of the shaft, wherein the tip of the needle is formed by a bevel ( 120 ,  220 ),   a first fiber ( 130 ,  230 ), the first fiber being capable of transmitting light, wherein an end surface ( 132 ,  232 ) of the first fiber is located at a top ( 122 ,  222 ) of the bevel, and   a second fiber ( 140 ,  240 ), the second fiber being capable of transmitting light, wherein end surface ( 142 ,  242 ) of the second fiber is located at a bottom ( 124 ,  224 ) of the bevel.   
     
     
         2 . The needle of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the shaft ( 110 ,  210 ) has an outer diameter (D),   wherein the end surface ( 132 ,  232 ) of the first fiber and the end surface ( 134 ,  234 ) of the second fiber are arranged at a distance (A) to each other,   wherein the distance (A) is greater than the diameter (D).   
     
     
         3 . The needle of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the distance (A) is more than 1.5 times greater than the diameter (D).   
     
     
         4 . The needle of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the outer diameter (D) of the shaft ( 110 ,  210 ) is between 0.711 mm and 2.108 mm.   
     
     
         5 . The needle of  claim 1 , wherein the bevel ( 120 ,  220 ) forms an acute angle (b) with the shaft ( 110 ,  210 ), such that the needle includes a pointed tip. 
     
     
         6 . The needle of  claim 5 , wherein the acute angle (b) is 20°. 
     
     
         7 . The needle of  claim 1 , further comprising a third fiber, the third fiber being capable of transmitting light, wherein an end surface ( 252 ) of the third fiber is located at the bottom ( 224 ) of the bevel in the vicinity of the end surface ( 242 ) of the second fiber. 
     
     
         8 . The needle ( 300 ) of  claim 1 , further comprising an inner tube ( 352 ) and an outer tube ( 350 ), wherein a space ( 356 ) is formed between the inner tube and the outer tube, wherein the fibers ( 330 ,  340 ) are accommodated in the space. 
     
     
         9 . A system for optical tissue inspection, the system comprising
 a needle ( 100 ,  200 ,  300 ) according to  claim 1 ,   a light source ( 332 ) connected with one of the fibers ( 330 ) of the needle ( 300 ),   a light detector ( 342 ) connected with another one of the fibers ( 340 ) of the needle ( 300 ), wherein light coming from the light source and being emitted from the end surface of the one of the fibers can be detected by the light detector when entering the other one of the fibers,   a processing unit ( 370 ) for processing the data from the light detector, and   a monitor ( 380 ) for visualization of the processed data.