A Novel Assistive Imaging Device for Colon Map Reconstruction

Colonoscopy, recognised as the gold standard for diagnosing and treating colorectal cancer, faces limitations that may result in overlooking some colonic regions. This can lead to missed lesions and interval cancer, leading to incomplete treatment. Addressing this challenge, this work presents a novel Assistive Imaging Device for Colon Map Reconstruction (AID-CMR) to support clinicians in visualising the entire colonic mucosa and identifying areas that may have been missed during the procedure. The device is comprised of an overtube tooled with an imaging module on its distal end, which can be moved about a threaded silicone sleeve. The imaging module houses inflatable silicone chambers to distend the lumen, a side-viewing miniaturised full-HD camera with LEDs, a magnetic encoder, and an irrigation channel for camera cleansing. Before intervention, the device can be installed on standard colonoscopes or other tethered endoscopes. During the intervention, the device can be operated to (1) reconstruct assistive maps of the organ, (2) visualise the full anatomy, and (3) increase disease detection. Moreover, these maps may be employed for the quantification of missed regions during standard inspection. This work introduces a proof of concept device and discusses locomotion and reconstruction tests conducted in two in-vitro conditions. These tests reveal overall procedural feasibility in terms of locomotion, exerted forces and colon map reconstruction, preserving polyp morphology.