Abstract
Usually, separate devices are required to differentiate between normal and tumoral tissue with electronic chromoscopy and endoscopic ultrasound. We aimed to develop a smart endoscope to obtain various diagnoses based on photoacoustic spectroscopy. The photoacoustic process is a complex energy conversion process involving optical, thermal, and elastic processes. Since the measurable depth of photoacoustic spectroscopy depends on the modulation frequency of the chopped light irradiated on a soft tissue phantom, the relationship between modulation frequency and the thickness of a soft tissue phantom was evaluated. These results suggest that application of the photoacoustic technique may allow mechanical characterization of soft tissue and enable the preoperative evaluation of the depth of cancer invasion during diagnostic endoscopy.
