Patent ID: 8764643

Claim:
A method for imaging tissue fluorescence comprising: delivering excitation light from a first light source with a first wavelength in a range of 380 nm-420 nm onto tissue through a fiber optic device within an endoscope body; coupling a broadband light source to the fiber optic device; detecting an autofluorescence image of the tissue in response to said excitation light with a distal imaging detector within the endoscope body, the detected light including autofluorescence light having a wavelength of about 450 nm; processing said autofluorescence image with a data processor to produce an output autofluorescence image of the tissue; electronically switching between the first light source and the broadband light source; detecting a color video image in response to illumination of the tissue with the broadband light source; displaying at least one of the output autofluorescence image and the color video image on a display; and coupling the excitation light and a reference light to the fiber optic device such that a variation in a normalized intensity of the reference light and a normalized intensity of the excitation light is less than 20% at any point in a wavefront along the optical path between a combiner that combines the excitation light and the reference light and a tissue surface.