Anti-confocal assessment of middle ear inflammation

David S Jung; John A Crowe; John P Birchall; Michael G Somekh; Chung W See

doi:10.1364/BOE.8.000230

Anti-confocal assessment of middle ear inflammation

Biomed Opt Express. 2016 Dec 12;8(1):230-242. doi: 10.1364/BOE.8.000230. eCollection 2017 Jan 1.

Authors

David S Jung¹, John A Crowe², John P Birchall³, Michael G Somekh⁴, Chung W See²

Affiliations

¹ National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, 113 The Ropewalk, Nottingham, NG1 5DU, UK; Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
² Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
³ National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, 113 The Ropewalk, Nottingham, NG1 5DU, UK; Otology and Hearing group, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK.
⁴ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK; Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.

Abstract

To improve the diagnostic prediction of recurrence of otitis media with effusion after surgery, an anti-confocal system combined with spectroscopic measurements is proposed to reject unwanted signals from the eardrum and assess the blood content. The anti-confocal system was experimentally evaluated on both optical middle ear phantom and human skin. Results showed effective rejection of signals from the eardrum using a central stop replacing the confocal pinhole, while still detecting signals from the middle ear mucosa. The system is sensitive to changes in blood content, but scattering and absorption characteristics of the eardrum can distort the measurement. Confocal detection of eardrum properties was shown to be a promising approach to correct measurements.

Keywords: (110.0113) Imaging through turbid media; (170.1790) Confocal microscopy; (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging; (170.4940) Otolaryngology.