Intraoperative OCT in surgical oncology

The global incidence of cancer is rising, putting an increasingly heavy burden upon health care. The need to effectively detect and treat cancer is one of the most significant problems faced in health care today. Effective cancer treatment typically depends upon early detection and, for most solid tumors, successful removal of the cancerous tumor tissue via surgical procedures. Difficulties arise when attempting to differentiate between normal and tumor tissue during surgery. Unaided visual examination of the tissue provides only superficial, low–resolution information and often with little visual contrast. Many imaging modalities widely used for cancer screening and diagnostics are of limited use in the operating room due to low spatial resolution. OCT provides cellular resolution allowing for more precise localization of the tumor tissue. It is also relatively inexpensive and highly portable, making it well suited for intraoperative applications.