Combined RCM and PSOCT for skin cancer imaging

描述（由申请人提供）：物理科学公司（PSI）与纪念斯隆凯特琳癌症中心（MSKCC）和Lucid公司合作，提议研究使用联合反射共聚焦显微镜-偏振敏感光学相干断层扫描（RCM-PSOCT）在体内诊断皮肤癌。RCM和OCT都是强大的技术，在人体皮肤成像方面取得了成功。RCM提供的是深度约200 mm的皮肤表层核级分辨率的正面图像，而OCT提供的是深度至少为1 mm的皮肤深层结构级分辨率的横断面图像。此外，PSOCT测量皮肤双折射，从而准确区分真皮和表皮皮肤层。因此，可以利用这两种光学技术的互补能力，为诊断提供一套临床综合参数，这两种技术都不能单独提供：癌症的存在和侧移，真皮-表皮交界处的位置和浸润的深度（阶段）。因此，这项技术可以帮助临床医生对可疑的皮肤病变提供更可靠的诊断，并显著减少不必要的活检次数。为了对这种强大的双模成像方法进行初步研究，提出了一种自动定位真皮-表皮（DE）连接处的新方法。在第一阶段，我们建议开发一种台式仪器，该仪器将在相同的光学布局中结合RCM和PSOCT。该仪器的初步测试将在切除的组织标本和几名志愿者的正常皮肤上进行。根据第一阶段的结论，该仪器将得到改进，并将在第二阶段的研究中建立临床原型，并在临床环境中对更多的正常和皮肤癌患者进行测试。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI), in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Lucid, Inc., proposes to investigate the use of combined reflectance confocal microscopy- polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (RCM-PSOCT) for in vivo diagnosis of skin cancers. Both RCM and OCT are powerful technologies with proven success in human skin imaging. While RCM provides en face images with nuclear-level resolution in superficial skin, to depths of about 200 mm, OCT provides cross-sectional images with structural-level resolution in the deeper skin layers, to depths of at least 1 mm. Furthermore, PSOCT measures skin birefringence, and thus accurately differentiates between the dermal and epidermal skin layers. Therefore, the complementary capabilities of these two optical technologies may be exploited to offer a clinically comprehensive set of parameters for diagnostics which neither modality can provide by itself: presence and lateral spread of cancer, location of the dermo- epidermal junction and depth (stage) of invasion. Thus, this technology could help clinicians to provide more reliable diagnosis of suspicious skin lesions and significantly reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies. For a preliminary investigation of this powerful dual-mode imaging approach, a novel method for automated localization of the dermo-epidermal (DE) junction is proposed. In Phase I we propose to develop a benchtop instrument that will combine RCM and PSOCT within the same optical layout. Preliminary testing of this instrument will be performed on excised tissue specimens and on the normal skin of several volunteers. Based on Phase I conclusions, this instrument will be improved and a clinical prototype will be built and tested in a clinical setting on a larger number of normal and skin cancer patients during the Phase II study.