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

Gong P 1 , Chin L 1 , Es'haghian S 1 , Liew YM 2 , Wood FM 3 , Sampson DD 4 Show all authors , McLaughlin RA 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 The University of Western Australia, School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
  • 2 University of Malaya, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
  • 3 Royal Perth Hospital, Burns Service of Western Australia, Wellington Street, Perth, Western Australia 6000, AustraliadThe University of Western Australia, School of Surgery, Burn Injury Research Unit, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009
  • 4 The University of Western Australia, School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Optical+Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, AustraliaeThe University of Western Australia, Centre for Micr
J Biomed Opt, 2014 Dec;19(12):126014.
PMID: 25539060 DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.19.12.126014

Abstract

We demonstrate the in vivo 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.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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