US 11,666,221 B2
Method, system and speculum-free optical probe for optical assessment of cervix, and applications of same
Christine O'Brien, Nashville, TN (US); Katherine Cochran, Nashville, TN (US); Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, Nashville, TN (US); Kristen Rose Findley, Nashville, TN (US); William Stokes, Nashville, TN (US); Lowell Hays, Nashville, TN (US); Mohsin Tejani, Nashville, TN (US); and Anne-Marie Crowe, Nashville, TN (US)
Assigned to VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, Nashville, TN (US)
Appl. No. 16/613,445
Filed by VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, Nashville, TN (US)
PCT Filed May 18, 2018, PCT No. PCT/US2018/033381
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 14, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/213698, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 22, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/508,049, filed on May 18, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2021/0161388 A1, Jun. 3, 2021
Int. Cl. G01J 3/44 (2006.01); A61B 5/00 (2006.01); G01J 3/02 (2006.01); G01J 3/28 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/0075 (2013.01) [A61B 5/435 (2013.01); A61B 5/6875 (2013.01); G01J 3/0248 (2013.01); G01J 3/2823 (2013.01)] 43 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for identification of biochemical markers associated with cervical remodeling over the course of pregnancy of humans, comprising:
obtaining, with a detector, Raman signals from the cervix of each of pregnant humans at each phase of pregnancy;
finding, by a controller in communication with the detector, Raman signatures corresponding to each type of cervical tissue from the obtained Raman signals; and
identifying, by the controller, biochemical markers associated with cervical remodeling at each phase of pregnancy corresponding to the Raman signatures.