A-scan spectral intensity profile in OCT as a potential imaging biomarker of oral precancerous and cancerous tissues

摘要

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a powerful imaging modality capable of detecting subtle abnormalities athistological definition. OCT is extremely useful in the detection of epithelial cancers like oral squamous cell carcinoma.Oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) not only demonstrate architectural loss, but also display strong accumulations ofkeratin, a major tissue biomolecular scatterrer. Our preliminary observations of A-scan intensity data in a contrasting setof oral precancerous, and cancerous tissues have revealed a striking correlation with degree-of-keratinization andhistological differentiation grade. This led us to formulate a study aiming to decipher the ‘high-intensity’ data in A-scanplots of normal, oral precancerous and cancerous human tissues. Our further observations in 600 A-scans (300 malignantand 300 non-malignant) suggested a pertinent link between the high-intensity data occurring in A-scan intensity profileand overall distribution of keratin in OSCC.