Patent ID: 7970458

Claim:
A medical device, comprising: a bronchoscope comprising a working channel configured for insertion into a passage of a body to reach a target area inside the body; an optical fiber probe module comprising (1) a probe optic fiber having a portion inserted into the working channel of the bronchoscope and (2) an optical probe head coupled to an end of the probe optic fiber and located inside the working channel, the optical fiber probe module operable to direct probe light to and collect reflected light from the target area in the body through the probe optic fiber and the optical probe head and to obtain information of the target area from the collected reflected light; and a laser therapy module comprising a power delivery optic fiber having a portion inserted into the working channel of the bronchoscope to deliver a treatment laser beam to the target area, wherein the probe optic fiber is structured to support light in a first propagation mode and a second, different propagation mode, and the optical fiber probe module further comprises: a light source to produce the probe light, wherein the probe optic fiber receives and guides the probe light in the first propagation mode, wherein the optical probe head is coupled to the probe optic fiber to receive the light from the probe optic fiber and to reflect a first portion of the light back to the probe optic fiber in the first propagation mode and direct a second portion of the light to the targeted area, the probe head collecting reflection of the second portion from the target area and exporting to the probe optic fiber the reflection as a reflected second portion in the second propagation mode; an optical differential delay unit to produce and control a relative delay between the reflected first portion and the reflected second portion received from the probe optic fiber in response to a control signal; a detection module to receive the reflected first portion and the reflected second portion from the probe optic fiber and to extract information of the target area carried by the reflected second portion; and a control unit, which produces the control signal to the optical differential delay unit, to set the relative delay at two different bias values to select a layer of material inside the target area to measure an optical absorption of the selected layer.