Towards clinical translation of endobronchial optical ultrasound imaging

Optical ultrasound (OpUS) imaging provides an optical alternative to conventional piezoelectric ultrasound, offering miniaturised interventional probes and clinically-relevant image quality at video-rate frame rates. Here, we report advances in the clinical applicability of a linearly actuated OpUS (LiOpUS) imaging system developed for endobronchial applications, incorporating a clinically relevant probe length and dynamic control over the orientation of the image plane. The system comprises a side-viewing OpUS probe exceeding 2 m in length, a motorised platform enabling both linear scanning and controlled probe rotation, and a compact and integrated imaging console supporting real-time data acquisition and real-time, GPU-accelerated image reconstruction. System performance was assessed in a range of clinically relevant scenarios in terms of both actuator dynamics and imaging performance, confirming the rotational mount exhibited minimal impact on linear scanning motion and effective imaging-plane adjustment over clinically relevant probe length. The results demonstrate a significant step of LiOpUS imaging toward future clinical deployment for endobronchial guidance, validating the system’s compact, mobile design and imaging performance in clinically representative scenarios, and motivating progression to preclinical studies.