OCT技术在人脑组织成像中的运用研究

Clinical Application of OCT in Human Brain Tissue Imaging

目的研究光学相干层析成像技术(optical coherence tomography,OCT)在新鲜人脑标本上对脑灰质、白质等组织的成像对比,探索其在神经外科的临床应用前景。方法利用OCT设备,对手术切除的影像学未见明显异常的颞叶癫痫病患者的颞前叶脑组织进行OCT扫描成像,并将脑灰质、白质的OCT图像进行比较。结果新鲜人脑组织OCT成像中,灰质较灰暗而光穿透深度较深;白质明亮而光穿透深度较浅。对于大脑表层的成像能辨别出小血管、蛛网膜下腔等结构。结论OCT图像与生物组织学图像高度关联,不同组织的光学特征也明显不同。新鲜人脑标本的OCT成像上,根据信号强度与衰减特征可以非常清楚地区分脑的白质和灰质。在改进OCT的探头设计和进一步提高分辨率后,可以用于指导神经外科手术。

Objective To study the characteristics of the Optical Coherence Tomography （OCT） images of fresh human brain specimen including white matter, gray matter, and explore its clinical application prospect in neurosurgery. Methods The OCT equipment manufactured by Shenzhen Graduate School of Tsinghua University was used to scan the samples gained from the resected anterior temporal lobe brain tissue because of intractable temporal lobe epilepsy and without any abnormality on neuroimaging studies. The images of brain white matter, gray matter were compared. Results On all of the OCT images of fresh human brain specimen, the gray matter presented as darker signal with deeper penetration by scanning light, white matter presented as brighter signal with shallower penetration. Even the small vessels and subaracnoid cavity on the surface of the brain could be distinguished by OCT. Conclusion The results of OCT images were highly correlated with those of the histological images. And every tissue had its especial optical characteristic in the OCT images of the fresh human brain specimen, the white matter and the gray matter could be easily differentiated according to their signal intensity and attenuation features. By ameliorating the designment of the probe and enhancing its resolution, the OCT could be used to guide neurosurgical operation.