Patent ID: 9678007
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: A61B,G01N

Claim:
1. A method for imaging a biological tissue with inverse spectroscopic optical coherence tomography (ISOCT), comprising: obtaining image signal data for the biological tissue sample with spectroscopic optical coherence tomography using a calibrated instrument; and quantifying, via ISOCT, the image signal data, wherein said quantifying is accomplished by: quantifying a tissue mass density correlation function with a length scale of sensitivity in sub-diffractional regime from the optical coherence tomography spectra for each three-dimensional voxel of spatial resolution by quantifying a refractive index correlation function based on the image signal data measured from the biological tissue and by calculating the tissue mass density correlation function as linearly proportional to the refraction index correlation function of the biological tissue; quantifying a full set of optical scattering properties of the image signal data in a spatially-resolved, three-dimensional space by isolating the image signal data from the spatially-resolved, three-dimensional space using an interferometer and deriving the full set of optical scattering properties including a scattering coefficient, an anisotropic factor, and a scattering phase function from the isolated image signal data; and selecting at least one of the tissue mass density correlation function or the full set of optical scattering properties for analysis of the biological tissue sample, wherein a processor operatively coupled to a memory executes instructions to quantify the tissue mass density correlation function and quantify the full set of optical scattering properties of the image signal data and select at least one of the tissue mass density correlation function or the full set of optical scattering properties for analysis of the biological tissue sample based on at least one ISOCT algorithm.