Because of its high spatial resolution and noninvasive imaging capabilities, optical coherence tomography has been used to characterize the morphological details of various biological tissues including urinary bladder and to diagnose their alternations (e.g., cancers). In addition to static morphology, the dynamic features of tissue morphology can provide important information that can be used to diagnose the physiological and functional characteristics of biological tissues. Here, we present the imaging studies based on optical coherence tomography to characterize motion related physiology and functions of rat bladder detrusor muscles and compared the results with traditional biomechanical measurements. Our results suggest that optical coherence tomography is capable of providing quantitative evaluation of contractile functions of intact bladder (without removing bladder epithelium and connective tissue), which is potentially of more clinical relevance for future clinical diagnosis - if incorporated with cystoscopic optical coherence tomography.

Date Published: 2 February 2012
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 8230, Biomedical Applications of Light Scattering VI, 82300U (2 February 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.909601

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8230:
Biomedical Applications of Light Scattering VI
Adam P. Wax; Vadim Backman, Editor(s)