Improved quality of optical coherence tomography imaging of basal cell carcinomas using speckle reduction.
BACKGROUND
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a possible imaging method for delineation of non-melanoma skin cancer. Speckle noise is the dominant noise contribution in OCT images; it limits the ability to identify cellular structures especially skin cancer. QUESTIONS ADDRESSED: This report suggests a method for improving OCT image quality for skin cancer imaging.


METHODS
OCT is an optical imaging method analogous to ultrasound. Two basal cell carcinomas (BCC) were imaged using an OCT speckle reduction technique (SR-OCT) based on repeated scanning by altering the distance between the probe and the surface of the skin.


RESULTS
SR-OCT resulted in improved visualisation and more accurate thickness measurements in BCC lesions.


CONCLUSIONS
This OCT speckle reduction method led to improved visualisation and better defined delineations in two BCC lesions. Thus, OCT was improved to a clinically relevant level when imaging BCC lesions.
Mogensen
Mette
M
Jørgensen
Thomas Martini
TM
Thrane
Lars
L
Nürnberg
Birgit Meinecke
BM
Jemec
Gregor Borut Ernst
GB
D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*