Evaluation of Radiation-Induced Oral Mucositis by Optical Coherence Tomography

• Published in: Clinical cancer research Vol. 11; no. 14; pp. 5121 - 5127
• Main Authors: MUANZA, Thierry M, COTRIM, Ana P, MCAULIFFE, Mathew, SOWERS, Anastasia L, BAUM, Bruce J, COOK, John A, FELDCHTEIN, Felix, AMAZEEN, Paul, COLEMAN, C. Norman, MITCHELL, James B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA American Association for Cancer Research 15.07.2005
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic agents; Biological and medical sciences; Disease Models, Animal; Facial bones, jaws, teeth, parodontium: diseases, semeiology; Female; Medical sciences; Mice; Mouth Mucosa; mucositis; Non tumoral diseases; normal tissue injury; optical coherence tomography; Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; radiation; Radiation Injuries - diagnosis; Radiation Injuries - veterinary; Sensitivity and Specificity; Severity of Illness Index; Stomatitis - diagnosis; Stomatitis - etiology; Stomatitis - veterinary; Tomography, Optical Coherence; Evaluation; Stomatitis; Stomatology; Coherence; Radiation; Irradiation; Tomography; Oral cavity disease
• ISSN: 1078-0432; 1557-3265
• DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-05-0403

Purpose: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging was evaluated to determine if radiation-induced mucosal damage could be noninvasively monitored in real time and correlated with histopathologic findings. Experimental Design: Female C3H mice, ages 7 to 9 weeks, four per group, were immobilized in a custom-made Lucite jig and received 0, 15, 22.5, and 25 Gy in a single fraction to their oral cavity. OCT images were acquired of proximal, middle, and distal aspects of the dorsum of the tongue on days 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 post-irradiation. Animals were sacrificed on day 7 and samples taken for histologic evaluation. OCT images were visually examined and also quantified by image analysis and compared with histologic findings. Results: Tongues removed 7 days post-irradiation showed no visible damage; however, upon staining with toluidine blue, ulcers at the base of the tongue became visible (100% for 25 Gy, 75% after 22.5 Gy, and 0% after 15 Gy). Visual inspection of OCT images qualitatively compared with histologic findings and quantitative image analysis of the OCT images (effective light penetration depth) revealed significant changes 7 days post-irradiation compared with unirradiated controls for the base of the tongue. Conclusions: OCT allows for direct noninvasive real-time acquisition of digitally archivable images of oral mucosa and can detect radiation-induced changes in the mucosa before visual manifestation. OCT may be a useful technique to quantify subclinical radiation-induced mucosal injury in experimental chemoradiation clinical trials.