Design and characterization of a combined OCT and wide field imaging falloposcope for ovarian cancer detection.

Early detection of ovarian cancer is only achieved in around 20% of women due to lack of effective screening. We propose a method for surveillance of high risk women based on a microendoscope introduced transvaginally to image the fallopian tubes and ovaries. This requires extreme miniaturization of the optics and catheter sheath. We describe the design of a falloposcope that combines optical coherence tomography (OCT) and wide field imaging into a sub-1 mm diameter package. We characterize the systems and show that they provide contrast on ex-vivo samples of ovary and fallopian tube. In addition, we show the mechanical performance of the endoscope in an anatomically correct model of the female reproductive tract.