Cross-Polarization Optical Coherence Tomography Probes for Intraoperative Application in Neurosurgery

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is one of the most promising, innovative and rapidly emerging intraoperative imaging modalities for neurosurgical guidance by brain tissue imaging, "optical biopsy", brain cerebral vascular detection, nerve fibers and white matter tracts detection. In this article, we provide a short survey of cross-polarization OCT and different types of OCT probes that can be used in routine neurosurgical practice. Through different types of probes there are multiple applications where OCT can play a highly complementary role in offering the real-time microscopic assessment and imaging of normal and pathological brain tissues. The biopsy-needle based probe for CP OCT was shown as an effective instrument for brain tissue mapping and express estimation of tissue status as well as for detecting large blood vessels to prevent causing bleeding during biopsy sampling. The folded CP OCT probe for intraoperative use for brain tissue examination was shown as a potentially efficient sensor head for CP OCT. The probe demonstrated high lateral resolution in diffractive limited probing beam quality. The length of the dismountable probe tip allows using the probe under operating microscope. The designed family of specialized probes allows CP OCT to occupy a niche of devices for express brain tissue examination in situ after finishing of the approvement for clinical use process.