Open AccessOptical coherence micro-elastography: mechanical-contrast imaging of tissue microstructure
Author(s) -
Brendan F. Kennedy,
Robert A. McLaughlin,
Kelsey M. Kennedy,
Lixin Chin,
Andrea Curatolo,
Alan Tien,
Bruce Latham,
Christobel Saunders,
David D. Sampson
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
biomedical optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.362
H-Index - 86
ISSN - 2156-7085
DOI - 10.1364/boe.5.002113
Subject(s) - optical coherence tomography , elastography , optics , materials science , biomedical engineering , interferometry , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , physics , ultrasound , radiology , medicine , quantum mechanics
We present optical coherence micro-elastography, an improved form of compression optical coherence elastography. We demonstrate the capacity of this technique to produce en face images, closely corresponding with histology, that reveal micro-scale mechanical contrast in human breast and lymph node tissues. We use phase-sensitive, three-dimensional optical coherence tomography (OCT) to probe the nanometer-to-micrometer-scale axial displacements in tissues induced by compressive loading. Optical coherence micro-elastography incorporates common-path interferometry, weighted averaging of the complex OCT signal and weighted least-squares regression. Using three-dimensional phase unwrapping, we have increased the maximum detectable strain eleven-fold over no unwrapping and the minimum detectable strain is 2.6 με. We demonstrate the potential of mechanical over optical contrast for visualizing micro-scale tissue structures in human breast cancer pathology and lymph node morphology.