Combining a focused air-puff system with phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography for the detection of soft-tissue tumors based on elasticity measurement

摘要

We combine a focused air-puff system with phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PhS-OCT) to measure the elasticity of soft tissues. Surface waves (SWs) on soft tissues are induced by a low-pressure, short-duration air stream from an air-puff system and measured using a high-sensitivity PhS-OCT imaging system. Young's modulus of soft tissues can be quantified based on the group velocity of SWs. To precisely control the excitation pressure, the air-puff system was characterized with a high-resolution analog pressure transducer. We studied the feasibility of this method for the non-contact detection of soft-tissue tumors. Ex vivo human fat and myxoma were used for these pilot experiments. Results demonstrate that this optical non-contact technique can be used to differentiate soft-tissue tumors from normal tissues based on measurements of their elasticity.