Biological tissue analysis by inverse spectroscopic optical coherence tomography

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9678007-B2
Application number	US-201213651196-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2012
Priority date	Oct 14, 2011
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

A method and system to measure and image the full optical scattering properties by inverse spectroscopic optical coherence tomography (ISOCT) is disclosed. Tissue is modeled as a medium with continuous refractive index (RI) fluctuation and such a fluctuation is described by the RI correlation functions. By measuring optical quantities of tissue (including the scattering power of the OCT spectrum, the reflection albedo α defined as the ratio of scattering coefficient μ s , and the backscattering coefficient μ b ), the RI correlation function can be inversely deduced and the full set of optical scattering properties can be obtained.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for imaging a biological tissue with inverse spectroscopic optical coherence tomography (ISOCT), comprising:
obtaining image signal data for the biological tissue sample with spectroscopic optical coherence tomography using a calibrated instrument; and
quantifying, via ISOCT, the image signal data, wherein said quantifying is accomplished by:
quantifying a tissue mass density correlation function with a length scale of sensitivity in sub-diffractional regime from the optical coherence tomography spectra for each three-dimensional voxel of spatial resolution by quantifying a refractive index correlation function based on the image signal data measured from the biological tissue and by calculating the tissue mass density correlation function as linearly proportional to the refraction index correlation function of the biological tissue;
quantifying a full set of optical scattering properties of the image signal data in a spatially-resolved, three-dimensional space by isolating the image signal data from the spatially-resolved, three-dimensional space using an interferometer and deriving the full set of optical scattering properties including a scattering coefficient, an anisotropic factor, and a scattering phase function from the isolated image signal data; and
selecting at least one of the tissue mass density correlation function or the full set of optical scattering properties for analysis of the biological tissue sample,
wherein a processor operatively coupled to a memory executes instructions to quantify the tissue mass density correlation function and quantify the full set of optical scattering properties of the image signal data and select at least one of the tissue mass density correlation function or the full set of optical scattering properties for analysis of the biological tissue sample based on at least one ISOCT algorithm.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the quantifying a tissue mass density correlation function with a length scale of sensitivity in sub-diffractional regime from the image signal data comprises obtaining a D value, I c and dn 2 .

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the quantifying of the full set of optical scattering properties of image signal data comprises obtaining g, and μ′ s and μ b .

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of the following is derived from the quantified tissue mass density correlation function: a reduced scattering coefficient, an anisotropic factor, and a scattering phase function.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the biological tissue comprises at least one source of biological tissue selected from the group consisting of an organ, a tissue sample, an extract, a biopsy, an explant, an implant, a transplant, a graft and an engineered biologically compatible material.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the biological tissue comprises at least one type of biological tissue selected from the group consisting of adrenal gland, anus, bladder, brain, breast, blood vessels, cervix, colon, esophagus, ear, eye, gall bladder, heart, intestine, kidneys, larynx, limbs, liver, lung, lymph, lymph nodes, mouth, muscle, neck, spinal cord, nose, olfactory, ovaries, pancreas, parathyroid gland, pineal gland, pituitary gland, penis prostate, rectum, sinus, scrotum, skin, spleen, stomach, testicles, throat, tongue, thyroid gland, thymus, uterus and vagina.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the obtaining image signal data for the biological tissue sample with optical coherence tomography is performed on a bench top ISOCT instrument.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising detecting changes within at least one ultrastructural feature of the biological tissue due to onset of disease within the biological tissue.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein detecting changes within at least one ultrastructural feature of the biological tissue comprises quantifying changes in at least one property of the tissue mass density correlation function for the biological tissue due to onset of disease within the biological tissue.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one property of the tissue mass density correlation function comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of a D value, I c and dn 2 .

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein detecting changes within at least one ultrastructural feature of the biological tissue comprises quantifying changes in at least one optical scattering property for the biological tissue due to onset of disease within the biological tissue.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least optical scattering property comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of g, μ′ s and μ b .

13. A method for enhancing image contrast for a biological tissue, comprising:
obtaining image signal data for the biological tissue sample with spectroscopic optical coherence tomography with a calibrated instrument;
obtaining a plurality of D values based on an analysis of optical scattering in the biological tissue sample using the image signal data, wherein each D value represents a deterministic factor defining a refractive index correlation function form and is indicative of tissue organization, and wherein the analysis includes selecting an output from at least one of quantifying, via inverse spectroscopic optical coherence tomography (ISOCT), a tissue mass density correlation function or quantifying, via ISOCT, a set of optical scattering properties of the image signal data; and
generating a pseudo-color plot based upon the image signal data as a function of the plurality of D values,
wherein a processor operatively coupled to a memory executes instructions to obtain the plurality of D values and analysis including an output selected from at least one of quantifying the tissue mass density correlation function and quantifying the full set of optical scattering properties of the image signal data based on at least one ISOCT algorithm.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the obtaining a plurality of D values comprises quantifying a tissue mass density correlation function with a length scale of sensitivity in sub-diffractional regime from the optical coherence tomography spectra for each three-dimensional voxel of spatial resolution or quantifying the full set of optical scattering properties from three dimensional OCT image signal data.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the biological tissue is a clinical tissue sample.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the clinical tissue sample is suspected to contain atypical cells selected from the group consisting of early stage carcinogenic cells, pre-cancerous cells, dysfunctional cells, and cells infected or damaged by a viral agent, fungal agent, or bacterial agent.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the biological tissue comprises a first biological tissue and a second biological tissue, wherein the first biological tissue is normal tissue and the second biological tissue is suspected as an atypical tissue of the same tissue type as the normal tissue.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising: generating a first pseudo-color plot for an image of the first biological tissue; generating a second pseudo-color plot for an image of the second biological tissue; and generating a difference pseudo-color plot from the first and second Hue-Saturation-Value color space plots, wherein the difference pseudo-color plot comprises an enhanced contrast image that reveals the atypical ultrastructure features of the second biolo

Assignees

• Univ Northwestern

Inventors

• Backman Vadim
• Yi Ji

Classifications

• G01N21/4795 Primary

  spatially resolved investigating of object in scattering medium (in vivo A61B) · CPC title

• A61B5/0066

  Optical coherence imaging · CPC title

• G01B9/02044

  Imaging in the frequency domain, e.g. by using a spectrometer · CPC title

• G01B9/02091

  Tomographic interferometers, e.g. based on optical coherence · CPC title

• G01B9/02083

  characterised by particular signal processing and presentation · CPC title