Visualization and Validation of The Microstructures in The Airway Wall in vivo Using Diffractive Optical Coherence...

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary Medicine
• Biomedical Engineering
• Optical Imaging

Background:

• Current methods for studying airway wall microstructures rely on invasive ex vivo histological analysis of biopsies.
• There is a need for non-invasive techniques to assess airway wall components in vivo.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate an endoscopic ultrahigh-resolution diffractive optical coherence tomography (OCT) system for non-invasive, in vivo imaging of airway microstructures.
• To assess the accuracy of the OCT system in quantifying airway wall components.

Main Methods:

• An ovine model was used to image small airways (approximately 2 mm in diameter) with an 800 nm diffractive OCT system.
• Paired OCT images and corresponding histologic samples were analyzed.
• Measurements of airway wall, lumen, and microstructural areas were compared between OCT and histology.

Main Results:

• Strong correlations were observed between OCT and histology measurements for the entire airway wall (r=0.76, p<0.001).
• High correlations were found for individual microstructures, including epithelium (r=0.61, p<0.001) and adventitia (r=0.86, p<0.001).
• 39 paired OCT-histology airway images from 27 sheep were analyzed.

Conclusions:

• The developed 800 nm ultra-high resolution diffractive OCT system is validated for in vivo microscopic imaging.
• The system accurately quantifies airway microstructural components, offering a non-invasive diagnostic tool.