Optical endoscopic methods in the diagnostics of head and neck tumours

Abstract

Endoscopic optical imaging methods have been developed with the aim of early detection of lesions suspected from precancerous or malignant changes. In ENT area, it is primarily used in oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx and larynx.

They can be divided into two basic groups. Horizontal methods visualize the mucosal surface (autofluorescence, photodynamic diagnosis, narrow band imaging, magnifying and contact endoscopy) and vertical methods - showing the different layers of the mucosa (optical coherence tomography and confocal endomicroscopy).

In the ENT area, the mostly used method is narrow band imaging (NBI).

Keywords

• optical imaging methods
• narrow band imaging
• autofluorescence
• confocal endomicroscopy
• optical coherence tomography