Cartilage disease diagnosis by conventional and polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

Abstract

In this paper, the conventional and polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) were used to image bovine articular cartilage and diagnose degenerative joint disease. The results showed that these 2D cross-sectional OCT images that can cover an area of 6×2.8mm2 (limited by scope size) with a traverse resolution of 12 μm and an axial resolution of 10 μm could assess the microstructure of articular cartilage and differentiate the abnormalities in structure. The results were confirmed by their histology. Compared to conventional OCT, PS-OCT could provide depth-resolved strokes parameter images, which reflect tissue birefringence. Both conventional and PS-OCT have high efficiency and sensitivity of osteoarthritis and cartilage injury and disease diagnosis.