Demidov Valentin, Matveev Lev A, Demidova Olga, Matveyev Alexander L, Zaitsev Vladimir Y, Flueraru Costel, Vitkin I Alex
Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, 101 College St., Toronto, M5G 1L7, Canada.
Institute of Applied Physics Russian Academy of Sciences, 46 Ulyanov Street, Nizhniy Novgorod, 603950, Russia.
Biomed Opt Express. 2019 Jul 26;10(8):4207-4219. doi: 10.1364/BOE.10.004207. eCollection 2019 Aug 1.
Analysis of semi-transparent low scattering biological structures in optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been actively pursued in the context of lymphatic imaging, with most approaches relying on the relative absence of signal as a means of detection. Here we present an alternate methodology based on spatial speckle statistics, utilizing the similarity of a distribution of given voxel intensities to the power distribution function of pure noise, to visualize the low-scattering biological structures of interest. In a human tumor xenograft murine model, we show that these correspond to lymphatic vessels and nerves; extensive histopathologic validation studies are reported to unequivocally establish this correspondence. The emerging possibility of OCT lymphangiography and neurography is novel and potentially impactful (especially the latter), although further methodology refinement is needed to distinguish between the visualized lymphatics and nerves.
在淋巴成像的背景下，光学相干断层扫描（OCT）中对半透明低散射生物结构的分析一直是研究热点，大多数方法依靠信号相对缺失来进行检测。在此，我们提出一种基于空间散斑统计的替代方法，利用给定体素强度分布与纯噪声功率分布函数的相似性，来可视化感兴趣的低散射生物结构。在人肿瘤异种移植小鼠模型中，我们发现这些结构对应于淋巴管和神经；据报道，广泛的组织病理学验证研究明确证实了这种对应关系。OCT淋巴管造影和神经造影这一新兴可能性是新颖且具有潜在影响力的（尤其是后者），不过还需要进一步完善方法以区分可视化的淋巴管和神经。
