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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

In Vivo, Percutaneous, Needle Based, Optical Coherence Tomography of Renal Masses
Published on: March 30, 2015
Pilot feasibility study of in vivo intraoperative quantitative optical coherence tomography of human brain tissue
Mitra Almasian1, Leah S Wilk1, Paul R Bloemen1
1Department of Biomedical Engineering & Physics, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
This study investigates the feasibility of in vivo quantitative optical coherence tomography (OCT) of human brain tissue during glioma resection surgery in six patients. High-resolution detection of glioma tissue may allow precise and thorough tumor resection while preserving functional brain areas, and improving overall survival. In this study, in vivo 3D OCT datasets were collected during standard surgical procedure, before and after partial resection of the tumor, both from glioma tissue and normal parenchyma. Subsequently, the attenuation coefficient was extracted from the OCT datasets using an automated and validated algorithm. The cortical measurements yield a mean attenuation coefficient of 3.8 ± 1.2 mm-1 for normal brain tissue and 3.6 ± 1.1 mm-1 for glioma tissue. The subcortical measurements yield a mean attenuation coefficient of 5.7 ± 2.1 and 4.5 ± 1.6 mm-1 for, respectively, normal brain tissue and glioma. Although the results are inconclusive with respect to trends in attenuation coefficient between normal and glioma tissue due to the small sample size, the results are in the range of previously reported values. Therefore, we conclude that the proposed method for quantitative in vivo OCT of human brain tissue is feasible during glioma resection surgery.
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