Overview

• O2E merges optical coherence tomography and optoacoustic imaging in a capsule that scans the esophagus in 360° to generate high-resolution 3D views of tissue structures and microvasculature.
• Pilot studies on animal esophagi, patient samples with Barrett’s esophagus and a volunteer’s oral mucosa demonstrated the capsule’s capacity to distinguish healthy, precancerous and malignant lesions.
• The European Innovation Council’s ESOHISTO Pathfinder project launched in 2025 to optimize the capsule for patient use and integrate confocal endomicroscopy for cellular-level imaging.
• Researchers are advancing preparations for clinical validation in humans to assess the refined device’s safety and diagnostic accuracy prior to regulatory approval and market introduction.
• Early detection with O2E could boost esophageal cancer survival from about 10% to 90% and cut treatment costs from roughly €140,000 to €10,000 per patient.