Handheld multi-modal imaging for point-of-care skin diagnosis based on akinetic integrated optics optical coherence tomography

A handheld skin imaging system with joint optical coherence tomography (OCT) at 1300 nm and digital epiluminescence microscopy (EM) is presented. The 2 modalities are physically co-registered in a common-path configuration. The instrument is enabled by a dedicated planar lightwave circuit with a footprint of only 1.1 × 19.5 mm² that provides akinetic axial OCT scanning at speeds up to 24 kHz. Lateral scanning is implemented through a low-voltage Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) mirror packaged with the axial scanner in a hermetic butterfly module. The OCT system, with a volume of only 80 × 27 × 14 mm³ , achieves an isotropic resolution of ~11 μm in tissue, -93 dB sensitivity, 12 mm lateral field of view, and an axial scanning range of 2.8 mm in air. The complete battery-powered device has a weight of 3 kg in a tablet format, enabling point-of-care use cases. This work shows that integration of complementary imaging modalities through miniaturization technology results in clinically valuable instruments supporting a patient-centered diagnostic imaging workflow.