Cancer imaging by optical coherence tomography: preclinical progress and clinical potential

Abstract

The past decade has seen dramatic technological advances in the field of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. These advances have driven commercialization and clinical adoption in ophthalmology, cardiology and gastrointestinal cancer screening. Recently, an array of OCT-based imaging tools that have been developed for preclinical intravital cancer imaging applications has yielded exciting new capabilities to probe and to monitor cancer progression and response in vivo. Here, we review these results, forecast the future of OCT for preclinical cancer imaging and discuss its exciting potential to translate to the clinic as a tool for monitoring cancer therapy.

Figures

Figure 1

Microstructural OCT imaging of tumours. (a) Using microstructural contrast, tumour tissue (an allotransplanted MCaIV mammary adenocarcinoma) can be differentiated from surrounding host subcutaneous and muscle tissues in a dorsal skinfold chamber model. By defining the tumour margins, the three-dimensional tumour volume can be calculated. (b) Endoscopic microstructural OCT of azoxymethane-induced colorectal cancer in the mouse colon. High soft-tissue contrast and near histology resolution allows imaging of colonic epithelial microstructure. The image shows the contrast at different tissue depths (shown in the vertical direction) versus distance along the colon (shown in the horizontal direction). Disease progression — from normal tissue to gastrointestinal intraepithelial neoplasia (GIN) to adenoma — can be monitored through hallmark modifications, such as the loss of tissue stratifications. (c) By quantifying scattering in OCT microstructural datasets, tumour viability can be monitored during cytotoxic interventions. Here, representative viability images of a LS174T human colorectal adenocarcinoma xenograft in a dorsal skinfold chamber model are presented two days following administration of diphtheria toxin (lower panel) or untreated (upper panel). Increases in scattering indicating significant loss of viability are evident in the diphtheria toxin administered animal. Transverse extent in a: 5 mm (x), 4.4 mm (y). Scale bars in c: 500 μm. Figure 1a and 1c are adapted from ref . Figure 1b is adapted from reference with permission.

Figure 2

Imaging of tumour angiogenesis using OCT. OCT-based angiography reveals strikingly different vascular networks in an MCaIV murine mammary carcinoma grown in different anatomical sites. Scale bars, 500 μm. In these images, three-dimensional vascular signals are projected into a single image and the colormap is used to encode the vessel depth. Reproduced from .