In Vivo Endoscopic Optical Biopsy with Optical Coherence Tomography

Abstract

Current medical imaging technologies allow visualization of tissue anatomy in the human body at resolutions ranging from 100 micrometers to 1 millimeter. These technologies are generally not sensitive enough to detect early-stage tissue abnormalities associated with diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis, which require micrometer-scale resolution. Here, optical coherence tomography was adapted to allow high-speed visualization of tissue in a living animal with a catheter-endoscope 1 millimeter in diameter. This method, referred to as "optical biopsy," was used to obtain cross-sectional images of the rabbit gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts at 10-micrometer resolution.

Optical coherence tomography—a review of the principles and contemporary uses in retinal investigation

“…The clear media of the eye has lent itself to noncontact, noninvasive imaging by OCT, with imaging of other body tissues such as trachea, 5 uterus, 6 bladder, 7 gastrointestinal tract, 8 and peripheral vasculature 9 requiring endoscopy to deliver light. In these organs, it is possible to obtain an 'optical biopsy' of 10 mm resolution in vivo by placing the probe adjacent to the wall of a hollow viscus, 10 with obvious potential in the early diagnosis of internal tumours.…”

Picosecond pulses from wavelength-swept continuous-wave Fourier domain mode-locked lasers

“…OCT is a novel technique for high-resolution biomedical imaging, which finds widespread use from research setups to commercial systems already in clinical practice [19][20][21] .…”

Optical coherence tomography—current technology and applications in clinical and biomedical research

“…Still, OCT is not only useful for examining the outer body surface, because endoscope probes [41] or subcutaneous imaging needles [42] give access to hollow organs and selected sampling volumes in soft tissue. Hence, OCT is a versatile modality complementing other clinical imaging techniques (Fig.…”

“…OCT is promising in many fields of cancer diagnosis, especially where excisional biopsy or another invasive method is typically used but undesirable [223]. OCT is endoscope-compatible [41] and thus well suited to examine hollow organs like the gastrointestinal tract [224][225][226], the bronchi [227] and the urinary bladder [228]. Subcutaneous imaging needles [42,229,230] and forward imaging probes [231][232][233] provide further possibilities to apply OCT for minimally invasive examination.…”