Characteristics of brain tumor with optical coherence tomography

Brain tumor is resulting from the development of abnormal cells in the brain, probably leading to headache, vision or mental problems. Currently, surgery is the most effective solution to remove the tumor cells as possible. However, it is difficult to determine the safe margin during brain surgery. In this study, we implement optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA) to in vivo observe the growth of brain tumor and to evaluate the difference between normal and cancerous brain tissue. A swept-source OCT (SS-OCT) with a center wavelength of 1060 nm was developed for the study of brain tumor on the animal model and the angiographic algorithm was also demonstrated for simultaneously acquiring brain microcirculation. From the results, the change in the morphology of brain tissue during tumor growth can be identified. Moreover, the angiogenesis resulting from tumor growth can be observed. Moreover, the texture of OCT images and the angiogenesis are quantitatively evaluated. It can be noted that OCT/OCTA could be a potential tool for in vivo identification of brain tumor during brain surgery or treatments.