Abstract
BACKGROUND: In vivo, non-invasive optical coherence tomography (OCT) permits high-resolution imaging of tissue surfaces and subsurfaces, with the potential capability for detection and mapping of epithelial pathologies. PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical capability of non-invasive in vivo OCT for diagnosing oral dysplasia and malignancy. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: In 50 patients with oral lesions, conventional clinical examination was followed by OCT imaging, then standard biopsy and histopathology. Two blinded, pre-standardized investigators separately diagnosed each lesion based on (1) OCT and (2) histopathology. RESULTS: Intra- and inter-observer agreement between diagnoses based on histopathology and imaging data was excellent, with lambda values between 0.844 and 0.896. Sensitivity and specificity were also very good. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate the excellent capability of in vivo OCT for detecting and diagnosing oral premalignancy and malignancy in human subjects.