Enhanced 3D visualization of human fallopian tube morphology using a miniature optical coherence tomography catheter

Abstract

We demonstrate the use of our miniature optical coherence tomography catheter to acquire three-dimensional human fallopian tube images. Images of the fallopian tube’s tissue morphology, vasculature, and tissue heterogeneity distribution are enhanced by adaptive thresholding, masking, and intensity inverting, making it easier to differentiate malignant tissue from normal tissue. The results show that normal fallopian tubes tend to have rich vasculature accompanied by a patterned tissue scattering background, features that do not appear in malignant cases. This finding suggests that miniature OCT catheters may have great potential for fast optical biopsy of the fallopian tube.