title: Optical coherence micro-elastography: mechanical-contrast imaging of tissue microstructure.
abstract: We present optical coherence micro-elastography, an improved form of compression optical coherence elastography. We demonstrate the capacity of this technique to produce en face images, closely corresponding with histology, that reveal micro-scale mechanical contrast in human breast and lymph node tissues. We use phase-sensitive, three-dimensional optical coherence tomography (OCT) to probe the nanometer-to-micrometer-scale axial displacements in tissues induced by compressive loading. Optical coherence micro-elastography incorporates common-path interferometry, weighted averaging of the complex OCT signal and weighted least-squares regression. Using three-dimensional phase unwrapping, we have increased the maximum detectable strain eleven-fold over no unwrapping and the minimum detectable strain is 2.6 με. We demonstrate the potential of mechanical over optical contrast for visualizing micro-scale tissue structures in human breast cancer pathology and lymph node morphology.
authors: Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors: Brendan F
authors: BF
authors: Kennedy
authors: Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors: Robert A
authors: RA
authors: McLaughlin
authors: Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors: Kelsey M
authors: KM
authors: Kennedy
authors: Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors: Lixin
authors: L
authors: Chin
authors: Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Curatolo
authors: School of Surgery, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors: Alan
authors: A
authors: Tien
authors: PathWest, 197 Wellington Street, Perth, WA 6000, Australia.
authors: Bruce
authors: B
authors: Latham
authors: School of Surgery, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors: Christobel M
authors: CM
authors: Saunders
authors: Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, School of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia ; Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation & Analysis, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
authors: David D
authors: DD
authors: Sampson
keywords: (100.5088) Phase unwrapping; (110.1650) Coherence imaging; (110.4500) Optical coherence tomography