Colon phantoms with cancer lesions for endoscopic characterization with optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a growing imaging technique for real-time early diagnosis of digestive system diseases. As with other well-established medical imaging modalities, OCT requires validated imaging performance and standardized test methods for performance assessment. A major limitation in the development and testing of new imaging technologies is the lack of models for simultaneous clinical procedure emulation and characterization of healthy and diseased tissues. Currently, the former can be tested in large animal models and the latter can be tested in small animal disease models or excised human biopsy samples. In this study, a 23 cm by 23 cm optical phantom was developed to mimic the thickness and near-infrared optical properties of each anatomical layer of a human colon, as well as the surface topography of colorectal polyps and visual appearance compatible with white light endoscopy.

Standardization and implementation of fluorescence molecular endoscopy in the clinic

“…These structures allow for easy inclusion of cellular constituents such as blood or fluorescent molecules but have a limited shelflife. 28 , 29 Further optical properties can be flexibly manipulated using absorbers, scatterers, and fluorophores. 22 …”

“…18,28 Above all, the development of reproducible and reliable phantoms will ensure a continuation of the advancement of innovative optical imaging technologies for improved diagnosis of cancer. 29 Several research groups designed promising phantoms that pave the way for the establishment of sensitivity limits, performance assessment of cameras, and semiquantification of fluorescent data and thus create standards for FME. 15,18,28 Fluorescent probes are usually present at nanomolar concentrations in the human body.…”

“…These structures allow for easy inclusion of cellular constituents such as blood or fluorescent molecules but have a limited shelflife. 28,29 Further optical properties can be flexibly manipulated using absorbers, scatterers, and fluorophores. 22 Yang et al 36 described a 3D optical tissue phantom mimicking the human esophagus to validate an FME imaging system (Fig.…”

Birefringent tissue-mimicking phantom for polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography imaging

“…As such, many sophisticated phantoms have been developed to contain structurally dissimilar regions to represent pathologies. 11 – 14 …”

“…As such, many sophisticated phantoms have been developed to contain structurally dissimilar regions to represent pathologies. [11][12][13][14] Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) is a label-free, noninvasive light-based imaging technique that can visualize depth-dependent birefringence properties of tissue. 15 Recent works have demonstrated that many diseased and normal tissues, particularly epithelial tissues, demonstrate a birefringent contrast that can be detected with polarizationsensitive methods, such as PS-OCT. [16][17][18] For example, several works have shown that the presence of collagen in the bladder wall leads to contrast in the PS-OCT images.…”