Automated differentiation between meningioma and healthy brain tissue based on optical coherence tomography ex vivo...

Brain tissue analysis is highly desired in neurosurgery, such as tumor resection. To guarantee best life quality afterward, exact navigation within the brain during the surgery is essential. So far, no method has been established that perfectly fulfills this need. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a promising three-dimensional imaging tool to support neurosurgical resections. We perform a preliminary study toward in vivo brain tumor removal assistance by investigating meningioma, healthy white, and healthy gray matter. For that purpose, we utilized a commercially available OCT device (Thorlabs Callisto) and measured eight samples of meningioma, three samples of healthy white, and two samples of healthy gray matter ex vivo directly after removal. Structural variations of different tissue types, especially meningioma, can already be seen in the raw OCT images. Nevertheless, an automated differentiation approach is desired, so that neurosurgical guidance can be delivered without a-priori knowledge of the surgeon. Therefore, we employ different algorithms to extract texture features and apply pattern recognition methods for their classification. With these postprocessing steps, an accuracy of nearly 98% was found.