Intra-operative ex-situ and in-situ optical biopsy using light-ct

Abstract

The field of digital pathology is evolving very quickly: there is an increasing implication of laboratories and imaging companies in the biomedical field of histology. For our part we propose a digital imaging tool based on optical interferometry with short coherence length light sources (OCT). This instrument provides, without preparation or contrast agents , virtual sections of biological tissues with a field of view (1cm 2) and spatial resolution (approximately 1 micron in 3-D) suitable for histology. We show the relevance of this approach by comparing our images obtained in minutes during surgery with histological sections obtained after a few days. In these studies we worked on fixed tissue, fresh tissue in vivo or ex vivo. Finally, an endoscopic probe based on the same principle has been validated ex-vivo for use inside the bodies of patients. © 2012 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.