A-scan spectral intensity profile in OCT as a potential imaging biomarker of oral precancerous and cancerous tissues

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a powerful imaging modality capable of detecting subtle abnormalities at histological definition. OCT is extremely useful in the detection of epithelial cancers like oral squamous cell carcinoma. Oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) not only demonstrate architectural loss, but also display strong accumulations of keratin, a major tissue biomolecular scatterrer. Our preliminary observations of A-scan intensity data in a contrasting set of oral precancerous, and cancerous tissues have revealed a striking correlation with degree-of-keratinization and histological differentiation grade. This led us to formulate a study aiming to decipher the ‘high-intensity’ data in A-scan plots of normal, oral precancerous and cancerous human tissues. Our further observations in 600 A-scans (300 malignant and 300 non-malignant) suggested a pertinent link between the high-intensity data occurring in A-scan intensity profile and overall distribution of keratin in OSCC.