Premium
Attenuation corrected‐optical coherence tomography for quantitative assessment of skin wound healing and scar morphology
Author(s) -
Ghosh Biswajoy,
Mandal Mousumi,
Mitra Pabitra,
Chatterjee Jyotirmoy
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of biophotonics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1864-0648
pISSN - 1864-063X
DOI - 10.1002/jbio.202000357
Subject(s) - optical coherence tomography , attenuation , wound healing , scars , biomedical engineering , reflectivity , materials science , imaging phantom , tomography , optics , pathology , medicine , nuclear medicine , surgery , physics
Imaging the structural modifications of underlying tissues is vital to monitor wound healing. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images high‐resolution sub‐surface information, but suffers a loss of intensity with depth, limiting quantification. Hence correcting the attenuation loss is important. We performed swept source‐OCT of full‐thickness excision wounds for 300 days in mice skin. We used single‐scatter attenuation models to determine and correct the attenuation loss in the images. The phantom studies established the correspondence of corrected‐OCT intensity (reflectivity) with matrix density and hydration. We histologically validated the corrected‐OCT and measured the wound healing rate. We noted two distinct phases of healing—rapid and steady‐state. We also detected two compartments in normal scars using corrected OCT that otherwise were not visible in the OCT scans. The OCT reflectivity in the scar compartments corresponded to distinct cell populations, mechanical properties and composition. OCT reflectivity has potential applications in evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of healing and characterizing scars.