In vivo tissue injury mapping using optical coherence tomography based methods.

An injury causes changes in the optical attenuation coefficient (OAC) of a light beam traveling inside a tissue. We report a method called tissue injury mapping (TIM), which utilizes a noninvasive in vivo optical coherence tomography approach to generate an OAC and microvascular map of the injured tissue. Using TIM, the infarct region development in a mouse cerebral cortex during a stroke is visualized. Moreover, we demonstrate the changes in human facial skin structure and microvasculature during an acne lesion development from initiation to scarring. The results indicate that TIM may be used to aid in the characterization and the treatment of various diseases by enabling a high-resolution detection of tissue structural and microvascular changes.