Diagnostic potential of multimodal imaging of ovarian tissue using optical coherence tomography and second-harmonic generation microscopy

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is particularly deadly because it is usually diagnosed after it has metastasized. We have previously identified features of ovarian cancer using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy (targeting collagen). OCT provides an image of the ovarian microstructure while SHG provides a high-resolution map of collagen fiber bundle arrangement. Here we investigated the diagnostic potential of dual-modality OCT and SHG imaging. We conducted a fully crossed, multi-reader, multi-case study using seven human observers. Each observer classified 44 ex vivo mouse ovaries (16 normal and 28 abnormal) as normal or abnormal from OCT, SHG, and simultaneously viewed, co-registered OCT and SHG images and provided a confidence rating on a six-point scale. We determined the average receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, area under the ROC curves (AUC), and other quantitative figures of merit. The results show that OCT has diagnostic potential with an average AUC of 0.91 ± 0.06. The average AUC for SHG was less promising at 0.71 ± 0.13. The average AUC for simultaneous OCT and SHG was not significantly different from OCT alone, possibly due to the limited SHG field of view. The high performance of OCT and co-registered OCT and SHG warrants further investigation.

Quantification of multiphoton and fluorescence images of reproductive tissues from a mouse ovarian cancer model shows promise for early disease detection

“…11 One technique that has shown promise in the identification of abnormal ovarian tissue is multiphoton microscopy (MPM). 12,13 MPM is based on the molecules in tissue interacting with more than one photon simultaneously, allowing for signal generation at a higher energy than the illuminating light. One type of MPM is second-harmonic generation (SHG) in which contrast is formed by the nonlinear scattering of noncentrosymmetric structures.…”

In vivo multiphoton imaging of an ovarian cancer mouse model

“…9 One technique that has shown promise in the identification of abnormal ovarian tissue is multiphoton microscopy (MPM). 10,11 MPM is based on the molecules in tissue interacting with more than one photon simultaneously, allowing for signal generation at a higher energy than the illuminating light. One type of MPM is second-harmonic generation (SHG), in which contrast is formed by the nonlinear scattering by molecules with non-centrosymmetric structure.…”

Evaluation of segmentation algorithms for optical coherence tomography images of ovarian tissue

“…In particular, OCT has shown great potential for disease diagnostics and tissue classification in the ovaries by imaging a wealth of microstructural features, including the stroma, epithelium, and collagen. [14][15][16][17]20 A myriad of different image analysis techniques have recently been investigated in the scope of classifying tissue health based on OCT images. Some examples include structure and texture analysis, [21][22][23][24][25] convolutional neural networks, 13,26,27 and other machine-learning techniques.…”