Geometric Validation of Continuous, Finely Sampled 3-D Reconstructions From aOCT and CT in Upper Airway Models

Endobronchial optical coherence tomography helps to estimate the cartilage damage of the central airway in TBTB patients

Purpose

At present, there are few examination methods used to evaluate tracheobronchial cartilage damage. In our study, we explored whether endobronchial optical coherence tomography (EB-OCT) can be used to estimate central airway cartilage damage in tracheobronchial tuberculosis (TBTB) patients.

Methods

In our study, we used the OCTICS Imaging system to perform EB-OCT scanning for TBTB patients. The thickness of the central airway wall and cartilage was measured by the OCTICS software system workstation.

Results

There were 102 TBTB patients included in our study cohort. Their EB-OCT images of the central airway cartilage showed that abnormal cartilage manifests as thinning of the cartilage, cartilage damage, cartilage destruction, and even cartilage deficiency. The cartilage morphology becomes irregular and discontinuous. Some parts of the cartilage become brighter in grayscale. The intima of the cartilage is thickened and discontinuous, and the boundary with submucosa and mucosa is unclear.

Conclusion

Our study conducted EB-OCT examination of the central airway cartilage of TBTB patients in vivo for the first time. EB-OCT helps to estimate the cartilage damage of the central airway in TBTB patients to some extent.

EB-OCT: a potential strategy on early diagnosis and treatment for lung cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in China and the world, mainly attributed to delayed diagnosis, given that currently available early screening strategies exhibit limited value. Endobronchial optical coherence tomography (EB-OCT) has the characteristics of non-invasiveness, accuracy, and repeatability. Importantly, the combination of EB-OCT with existing technologies represents a potential approach for early screening and diagnosis. In this review, we introduce the structure and strengths of EB-OCT. Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive overview of the application of EB-OCT on early screening and diagnosis of lung cancer from in vivo experiments to clinical studies, including differential diagnosis of airway lesions, early screening for lung cancer, lung nodules, lymph node biopsy and localization and palliative treatment of lung cancer. Moreover, the bottlenecks and difficulties in developing and popularizing EB-OCT for diagnosis and treatment during clinical practice are analyzed. The characteristics of OCT images of normal and cancerous lung tissues were in good agreement with the results of pathology, which could be used to judge the nature of lung lesions in real time. In addition, EB-OCT can be used as an assistant to biopsy of pulmonary nodules and improve the success rate of biopsy. EB-OCT also plays an auxiliary role in the treatment of lung cancer. In conclusion, EB-OCT is non-invasive, safe and accurate in real-time. It is of great significance in the diagnosis of lung cancer and suitable for clinical application and is expected to become an important diagnostic method for lung cancer in the future.

Sensing Inhalation Injury-Associated Changes in Airway Wall Compliance by Anatomic Optical Coherence Elastography

Quantitative methods for assessing the severity of inhalation (burn) injury are needed to aid in treatment decisions. We hypothesize that it is possible to assess the severity of injuries on the basis of differences in the compliance of the airway wall. Here, we demonstrate the use of a custom-built, endoscopic, anatomic optical coherence elastography (aOCE) system to measure airway wall compliance. The method was first validated using airway phantoms, then performed on ex vivo porcine tracheas under varying degrees of inhalation (steam) injury. A negative correlation between aOCE-derived compliance and severity of steam injuries is found, and spatially-resolved compliance maps reveal regional heterogeneity in airway properties.

Localized compliance measurement of the airway wall using anatomic optical coherence elastography

We describe an elastographic method to circumferentially-resolve airway wall compliance using endoscopic, anatomic optical coherence tomography (aOCT) combined with an intraluminal pressure catheter. The method was first demonstrated on notched silicone phantoms of known elastic modulus under respiratory ventilation, where localized compliance measurements were validated against those predicted by finite element modeling. Then, ex vivo porcine tracheas were scanned, and the pattern of compliance was found to be consistent with histological identification of the locations of (stiff) cartilage and (soft) muscle. This quantitative method may aid in diagnosis and monitoring of collapsible airway wall tissues in obstructive respiratory disorders.