Imaging of skin birefringence for human scar assessment using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography aided by vascular masking

Peijun Gong; Lixin Chin; Shaghayegh Es’haghian; Yih Miin Liew; Fiona M. Wood M.D.; David D. Sampson; Robert A. McLaughlin

doi:10.1117/1.JBO.19.12.126014

24 December 2014 Imaging of skin birefringence for human scar assessment using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography aided by vascular masking

Peijun Gong, Lixin Chin, Shaghayegh Es’haghian, Yih Miin Liew, Fiona M. Wood M.D., David D. Sampson, Robert A. McLaughlin

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Journal of Biomedical Optics, Vol. 19, Issue 12, 126014 (December 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.19.12.126014

Abstract

We demonstrate the invivo assessment of human scars by parametric imaging of birefringence using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). Such in vivo assessment is subject to artifacts in the detected birefringence caused by scattering from blood vessels. To reduce these artifacts, we preprocessed the PS-OCT data using a vascular masking technique. The birefringence of the remaining tissue regions was then automatically quantified. Results from the scars and contralateral or adjacent normal skin of 13 patients show a correspondence of birefringence with scar type: the ratio of birefringence of hypertrophic scars to corresponding normal skin is 2.2±0.2 (mean±standard deviation), while the ratio of birefringence of normotrophic scars to normal skin is 1.1±0.4. This method represents a new clinically applicable means for objective, quantitative human scar assessment.

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Peijun Gong, Lixin Chin, Shaghayegh Es’haghian, Yih Miin Liew, Fiona M. Wood M.D., David D. Sampson, and Robert A. McLaughlin "Imaging of skin birefringence for human scar assessment using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography aided by vascular masking," Journal of Biomedical Optics 19(12), 126014 (24 December 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.19.12.126014

Published: 24 December 2014

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