Multimodal OCT for Malignancy Imaging

Abstract

In this chapter we consider applications of multimodal OCT for characterizing tumorous tissues. Namely, the following extensions of OCT are discussed: (1) polarization-sensitive OCT providing complementary images in the initial and cross-polarization channels (CP OCT), (2) OCT-based label-free angiography (OCA), and (3) compressional variant of OCT-based elastography (OCE). For each modality we briefly consider the principles of realization and present examples of various biomedical applications from utilization in laboratory experiments with model tumors on animals to demonstrations of possibilities of multimodal OCT in pre-clinical studies and usage in clinical conditions. Among such applications we present the results of using CP OCT for detection of tumorous and nontumorous regions in brain and breast tissues; application of OCA for monitoring the results of photodynamic therapy of murine model tumor CT26 and patients’ basal cell carcinoma; utilization of OCA for studying mucositis on patients during radiation therapy, as well as chemically induced cancer in hamster cheek pouch. In conclusion, we consider several examples of successful realization of compressional OCE for such applications as monitoring of tumor response to chemotherapy, visualization of morphological features of breast cancer and delineation of breast cancer from non-tumor tissue.