Rapid confocal microscopy to support surgical procedures

1. A method for presenting a multimodal image from a confocal microscope comprising:

contacting a surface of a biological sample with a solution of a first fluorescent stain that stains and distinguishes a nucleus of a cell;

illuminating a spot on a surface of the biological sample with a light beam using a confocal microscope;

detecting a first emission intensity from the spot in a first range of optical properties wherein the first emission intensity is intensity from the fluorescent stain;

detecting a second emission intensity from the spot in a second range of optical properties wherein the second emission intensity is intensity of unstained reflectance;

coloring a pixel that corresponds to the spot in an image using a linear combination of the first emission intensity detected from the spot and the second emission intensity detected from the spot, wherein the linear combination includes the first emission intensity times non-zero first factors in a red channel, green channel and blue channel, respectively, to imitate a purple stain of a hematoxylin dye and the second emission intensity times non-zero second factors in the red channel, green channel and blue channel, respectively, to imitate a pink stain of an eosin dye; and

presenting the colored pixels on a display device to approximate the color produced by a conventional histology section for the biological sample at the spot;

wherein the first fluorescent stain diffuses in the biological sample to a depth of at least 30 microns within about 20 seconds of initial contact.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein contacting the surface of the biological sample with the solution of the first fluorescent stain further comprising contacting the surface of the biological sample with the solution of the first fluorescent stain for a duration in a range from about 0.6 milliseconds to about 20 seconds.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein contacting the surface of the biological sample with the solution of the first fluorescent stain further comprising contacting the surface of the biological sample with the solution of the first fluorescent stain for a duration sufficient to stain to a depth of about 30 microns.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:

the first fluorescent stain is acridine orange;

illuminating the spot further comprises illuminating the spot with a laser beam of wavelength about 488 nanometers (nm, 1 nm=10 −9 meters);

detecting the first emission intensity further comprises detecting a fluorescence emission intensity from the spot in a wavelength range above 500 nm; and

detecting the second emission intensity further comprises detecting reflectance emission intensity from the spot in a wavelength range below 500 nm.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising contacting the surface of the biological sample with a solution of acetic acid to enhance contrast between cell nuclei and surrounding material.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein coloring the pixel further comprises adding 100% intensity and subtracting the fluorescence emission intensity and subtracting the reflectance emission intensity for each color component of the pixel, whereby a pixel with no reflectance and no fluorescence appears white.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:

contacting the surface of the biological sample with the solution of the first fluorescent stain that contrasts the nucleus of the cell further comprises contacting the surface of the biological sample with a solution of eosin;

the method further comprises detecting a fluorescence emission intensity from the spot at a wavelength of about 532 nanometers (nm, 1 nm=10 −9 meters);

illuminating the spot further comprises illuminating the spot with a first laser beam of wavelength about 488 nm and with a second laser beam of wavelength about 532 nm; and

detecting the first emission intensity further comprises detecting a fluorescence emission intensity from the spot at a wavelength of about 550 nm.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising detecting a reflectance emission intensity from the spot in a wavelength range that corresponds to a wavelength range of at least one of the first laser beam or the second laser beam.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for correcting illumination in images from a confocal microscope, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving data that indicates a first emission intensity in a first range of optical properties from a spot on a surface of a biological sample contacted with a solution of a first fluorescent stain that stains and distinguishes a nucleus of a cell and illuminated with a light beam using a confocal microscope, wherein the first emission intensity is intensity from the fluorescent stain;

receiving data that indicates a second emission intensity from the spot in a second range of optical properties, wherein the second emission intensity is intensity of unstained reflectance;

determining a color for a pixel that corresponds to the spot in an image using a linear combination of the first emission intensity from the spot and the second emission intensity from the spot, wherein the linear combination includes the first emission intensity times non-zero first factors in a red channel, green channel and blue channel, respectively, to imitate a purple stain of a hematoxylin dye and the second emission intensity times non-zero second factors in the red channel, green channel and blue channel, respectively, to imitate a pink stain of an eosin dye; and

presenting the colored pixels on a display device to approximate the color produced by a conventional histology section for the biological sample at the spot;

wherein the first fluorescent stain diffuses in the biological sample to a depth of at least 30 microns within about 20 seconds of initial contact.