title: Validation of an ex vivo human cervical tissue model for optical imaging studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish and validate an ex vivo human cervical tissue model for optical coherence tomography (OCT) studies with special emphasis on investigating time dependent structural changes of the epithelium.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four hundred OCT images were taken from 80 unsuspicious and suspicious areas of 18 fresh conisation specimens immediately after resection (0 hour) and 1, 2, 3, and 4 hours, referred to as waiting times in the following, postoperatively and compared to the corresponding histology. For each 2D-OCT-image, a 1D-intensity profile was generated. The profiles were analyzed with respect to systematic differences which may result from different waiting times, employing discriminant analysis (DA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The different waiting times do not appear to imply significant differences among the corresponding OCT-images as represented by the intensity profiles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that the proposed cervical tissue model appears to be applicable for ex vivo OCT studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig- Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. juliagallwas@aol.com
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gallwas
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gaschler
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ochsenkuehn
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stepp
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Friese
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dannecker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000473:pathology*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D011446:Prospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000592:standards*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000175:diagnosis*