Abstract
To investigate the potential of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to distinguish between normal and pathologic thyroid tissue, 3D OCT images were acquired on ex vivo thyroid samples from adult subjects (n=22) diagnosed with a variety of pathologies. The follicular structure was analyzed in terms of count, size, density and sphericity. Results showed that OCT images highly agreed with the corresponding histopatology and the calculated parameters were representative of the follicular structure variation. The analysis of OCT volumes provides quantitative information that could make automatic classification possible. Thus, OCT can be beneficial for intraoperative surgical guidance or in the pathology assessment routine.
Highlights
The thyroid gland regulates metabolic, growth and development processes
The aim of this work was to characterize the follicular structure using specific parameters of density, count, volume variability and sphericity to distinguish normal from pathologic thyroid tissue, by implementing a semi-automatic algorithm
The results of the follicular structure morphological analysis are reported for the different thyroid pathologies available in this study
Summary
The thyroid gland regulates metabolic, growth and development processes. Its functional units are follicles that are composed of colloid or thyroglobulin surrounded by epithelial cells. The structure and size of the follicles are dependent on the location in the gland, the functional state of the gland’s tissue, as well as age [1]. Disregarding these parameters, in a normal thyroid, the follicles are usually spherical, uniform in shape and distribution, and vary considerably in size [2], with diameters ranging between 50 and 100 μm in adult humans. As most of the diseases of the thyroid affect the follicles, analysis of the follicles’ morphology may aid in determining the pathological condition of the thyroid
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