Contrast-enhanced optical coherence tomography for melanoma detection: An in vitro study

Optical coherence tomography (OCT), with a high-spatial resolution (<10 microns), intermediate penetration depth (~1.5 mm) and volumetric imaging capability is a great candidate to be used as a diagnostic-assistant modality in dermatology. At this time, the accuracy of OCT for melanoma detection is lower than anticipated. In this letter, we studied for the first time, the use of a novel contrast agent consist of ultra-small nanoparticles conjugated to a melanoma biomarker to improve the accuracy of OCT for differentiation of melanoma cells from nonmelanoma cells, in vitro. We call this approach SMall nanoparticle Aggregation-enhanced Radiomics of Tumor (SMART)-OCT imaging. This initial proof of concept study is the first step toward the broad utilization of this method for high accuracy all types of tumor detection applications.