Quantifying temperature changes in tissue-mimicking fluid phantoms using optical coherence tomography and envelope statistics

Several therapies make use of a hypo or hyperthermia tissue environment to induce cell death in both benign and malignant tumors. Current progression in optical technologies, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) sensors, could potentially provide viable information to explore the response of tissue when these temperature induced treatments are implemented. Studies were conducted with tissue-mimicking phantoms fabricated with polystyrene microspheres and glycerin to observe any relationship between the pixel intensities of the OCT images and their concurring envelope statistics. OCT images of the monitored region of interest were taken at 5°C intervals from 25°C to 60°C. Four probability distribution functions (PDF), Rician, Rayleigh, Normal and Generalized Gamma were used to investigate OCT envelope statistics as the temperature was altered. Using the Kolmogrov-Smirnov goodness of fit test, it was determined that the Generalized Gamma was the best fit. The scaling and shape parameters associated with the Generalized Gamma PDF were used to quantify the OCT envelope data to identify temperature changes within the tissue mimicking media. The Generalized Gamma PDF was verified as the best fit based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test correlation factor being less than 0.05 (p = 0.0158). In addition to the PDFs, the OCT speckle decorrelation at varying temperature were also measured and quantified to detect the microspheres response to temperature changes. Initial results are very promising with future research focused on extending this methodology to monitor relative temperature changes in tissue during therapy. Clinical utility can be achieved if these optical techniques are used to evaluate the temperature-derived biological response of tissue and provide a feedback mechanism to improve procedural efficiency.