The combination of optical coherence tomography and Raman spectroscopy for tissue characterization

The visualization as well as characterization of diseased tissue are of vital diagnostic interest for an early diagnosis to increase patients’ survival rate. In this study we introduce an imaging device combining optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Raman spectroscopy (RS), allowing to record 2D and 3D OCT cross sectional images of bulk tissue samples, as well as the acquisition of Raman spectra from small areas of interest in order to aid the detection process with molecular information. The design of the OCT/RS imaging device consists of commercially available cage components. The probe head involves a CCD camera chip for visualization purposes and galvanic mirrors for scanning the sample in x and y directions with a scan line rate up to 76 kHz. The OCT/RS imaging approach has been successfully evaluated by investigating pork samples. OCT and Raman data were correlated and different tissue types within the samples were successfully identified and clustered separately. Finally, pork skin samples with visual defects were characterized. Overall, the presented OCT/RS device allows for recording of large morphological overview OCT images to define points of interest, which are afterwards characterized in more detail on a molecular level by means of Raman spectroscopy.