A thin cryobiopsy device compatible with transnasal endoscopy for the gastrointestinal tract

• DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.ado9609
• Publication Date: 2025-05-01T02:02:49Z
• Authors: David O. Otuya; Hamid Farrokhi; Yogesh Verma; Jing Dong; Peter Choy; Aditya Kumar; Rachel E. Shore; Sarah K. Zemlok; Evan Sevieri; Mason Schellenberg; Graham Spicer; Dan Rolando Lopez; Hany A. Osman; Joseph A. Gardecki; Alfred A. F. Kyro...; Anna H. Gao; Anita Chung; Catriona N. Grant; Nitasha G. M. Bhat; Mireille Rosenberg; Brian C. Jacobson; Norman S. Nishioka; Yolonda Colson; Guillermo J. Tearney
• Keywords: Endoscope

Luminal organ biopsies are critical for disease diagnosis and obtained using single-bite forceps inserted through the working channel of large endoscopes. Procedures these endoscopes frequently require patient sedation or anesthesia may not be feasible use in pediatric patients. Additionally, forceps-derived can suffer from difficulty maintaining tissue orientation, crush artifacts, lack precise control biopsy depth. The high cost risks have driven development smaller unsedated procedures. However, reduced endoscope size limits working-channel dimensions, restricting to sizes that yield insufficient nondiagnostic samples. To address limitations, we developed an image-guided, depth-controlled, ultrasmall-diameter (1.2-millimeters) cryobiopsy device (μCryoProbe). We optimized coolant flow profile into enhance freezing, optimizing device-tissue contact time freezing tested gastrointestinal collection ex vivo preclinical tissues, porcine model, sedated human participants. Dimensions quality mucosal cryobiopsies esophagus, stomach, duodenum were compared with those biopsies, it was found μCryoProbe consistently produced high-quality optimal orientation no evidence artifacts. also demonstrated ability capture By capturing large, well-oriented samples a small-diameter tool, this technology has potential shift procedures small endoscopes, reducing need improving acquisition better quality.