新型光纤光学相干层析系统在龋齿诊断中的应用

早期龋齿导致牙齿内部脱矿,使得该区域折射率发生变化,从而导致其后向散射系数增加。利用一种新型的光学相干层析（OCT）系统可以进行口腔龋齿疾病的诊断。该全光纤系统快速准确地获得了人体正常离体牙和具有龋变的离体牙的OCT图像。对比它们的后向散射系数,首次发现具有龋变的离体牙齿的后向散射系数是正常离体牙齿组织的数倍。采用此方法可以对龋齿及早期龋齿进行诊断,对于龋齿早期诊断研究具有重要的意义。     

光学技术在早期龋齿检测中的应用

介绍了光学技术在口腔医学早期龋齿无损检测领域的应用,包括基于牙齿自体荧光效应的定量光导荧光技术和激光龋齿检测技术;基于光散射效应的数字化显影光纤透照术,以及基于牙釉质双折射效应的偏振敏感光学相干断层术和偏振拉曼光谱技术.详细介绍了各种光学方法应用于龋齿检测的基本原理、实验方案和研究现状,并对不同的光学方法进行比较.最后,提出基于频域荧光寿命成像的早期龋齿检测方法,并对该方案的技术路线进行了介绍.     

基于自适应光学的视网膜单细胞光学相干层析成像技术

介绍了一种基于CCD相机的并行光学相干层析成像技术,将所建立的层析成像系统和自适应光学视网膜相机结合。利用一维光学相干层析系统对人眼视网膜进行追踪并控制相干门在视网膜内的位置,利用基于CCD相机的二维光学相干层析成像系统记录视网膜的干涉图像。用眼模型和牛眼视网膜组织对系统进行了测试,通过将4幅干涉图像的获取时间控制在7 ms以内来减少视网膜运动对成像的影响;系统的轴向点扩展函数和灵敏度分别达到10 μm和76 dB。实验结果表明,所建立的基于自适应光学的视网膜光学相干层析成像系统的空间分辨率和灵敏度远远高于其它基于自适应光学的视网膜成像技术。     

光学相干层析用于牙齿病变的检测

阐述了适用于牙齿结构成像的光学相干层析成像(OCT)系统。系统光源中心波长为1 310 nm,成像分辨率10μm,在牙内成像深度2 mm,成像速度1幅/秒,系统信噪比100 dB。利用此OCT仪清晰检测到牙齿样品的牙釉质和牙本质,观察到牙釉质与牙本质的分界面以及正常牙齿牙釉质与龋齿牙齿牙釉质OCT图像的区别。进一步设计研制了适用于口腔内探测的小型OCT探头。     

上颌第一前磨牙三维模型的建立与研究

目的：建立上颌第一前磨牙三维模型,以辅助牙体解剖学数字化教学和指导临床根管治疗术。方法：对人离体上颌第一前磨牙通过ConebeamCT扫描,获得DICOM格式影像,将获得的影像定位后利用Mimicsl0．0三维重建软件采集牙釉质、牙本质及髓腔的点数据,然后将采集到的点数据导入到MagicslO．0软件进行面网格化,将网格化后的图像标本进行光滑处理后保存,再次利用MimicslO．0三维重建软件进行数据处理,最终获得清晰的牙体及根管系统三维立体图像。结果：准确的建立了包含牙釉质、牙本质、牙髓腔的三维立体模型。结论：本实验方法建立的上颌第一前磨牙的三维模型,具有极高的真实性和精确性,对辅助教学、指导临床根管治疗都具有重要意义。为牙体解剖教学和口腔临床应用提供了一种简捷而精确的建模方法。     

宽场光学相干层析成像技术在眼科学中的研究进展

宽场光学相干层析成像技术(WF-OCT)是光学相干成像技术领域的一个新方向。其接收干涉信号获得样品的二维信息,一次性建立样品整个断面的图像,可快速高效地获得样品的成像信息,以实现对物体特质的研究。本文就WF-OCT的基本原理、系统的基本构成及特点,以及近年来在眼科疾病诊断方面的应用进行了综述,可为WF-OCT仪器的设计及其在眼科医学中的应用提供思路和参考。     

脉冲CO2激光骨组织消融和电钻磨削的弹坑形态比较

激光消融技术在生物骨硬组织领域具有广泛的应用前景.选用脉冲CO2激光对离体牛胫骨组织进行消融,以电钻作为参照组,体视显微镜和扫描电子显微镜观察骨组织弹坑的形态学变化,光学相干层析成像(OCT)技术测量弹坑消融深度.比较结果表明:脉冲CO2激光辐照骨硬组织后产生的消融凹陷在几何形状和形态学方面与电钻的磨削效果相类似.此外,喷水速率为31 mL/min时可减少热损伤,并提高消融效率.     

基于光学相干层析成像技术的小鼠表皮厚度的无损测量及分析

光学相干层析成像技术(optical coherence tomography,OCT)在研究活体皮肤的表皮和真皮上层方面是一种很有潜力的手段.本文以小白鼠为研究对象,脱毛后,采用OCT系统对同一部位的小鼠皮肤在制作切片过程中(活体、离体、固定24 h后)进行成像跟踪,分别获得OCT强度图中第一强度峰到第一个波谷,以及第一、二强度峰之间的距离,比较两种结果和组织学的对应情况,并分析其原因,同时关注切片过程中各种物理、化学因素对皮肤各层厚度的影响,研究了OCT图像的各个反射峰与实际皮肤的结构之间联系.     

光学相干层析成像技术对关节软骨组织解剖分层表现对照研究

光学相干层析成像技术是一种高分辨率、非创伤性成像技术,它能够利用近红外光产生软骨组织的解析图像.实验的研究目的是验证光学相干层析成像技术对软骨组织解剖分层结构的成像能力.以猪膝关节软骨为样本,选择OCT检测的软骨区域运用解剖学方法获得组织切片,显微镜下观察.调查软骨OCT成像与组织学成像的相关性.结果显示OCT所测得的所有软骨的厚度值与切片显微镜结果一致,差异无显著意义 （P〉0.05）.光学相干层析成像系统能够呈现软骨组织解剖分层,该技术在软骨检测和临床关节病变诊断方面具有应用前景.     

大鼠附睾蛋白质组的提取和二维液相色谱分离

背景与目的：提取犬鼠附睾液蛋白并建立一种利用二维液相色谱法分离附睾蛋白组的方法。方法：分离提取犬鼠附睾液蛋白。样品利用起始缓冲液置换后,进行一维色谱聚焦分离,然后收集pH8．5—4．0之间的组份进行二维反相离压液相色谱分离,最后将获得的二维UV图通过ProteoVue软件转换成PI／UV图谱。结果：成功提取了附睾液蛋白,并通过二维液相色谱成功建立了大鼠头体尾部附睾液蛋白的二维PI／UV图谱,收集了一维色谱聚焦分离的pH8．5—4．0区间的20个组份,并将每个组份进行二维色谱分离后转换为PI/UV图谱。结论：为进一步全面研究附睾蛋白功能和体液差异蛋白质组研究打下了基础。     

Real‐time in vivo imaging of adult Zebrafish brain using optical coherence tomography

We report noninvasive imaging of the brain of adult Zebrafish (Danio rerio) using real time optical coherence tomography (OCT) capable of acquiring cross sectional 2D OCT images @ 8 frames/sec. Anatomic features such as telencephalon, tectum opticum, eminentia Granularis and cerebellum were clearly resolved in the OCT images. A 3D model of Zebrafish brain was reconstructed, for the first time to our knowledge, using these 2D OCT images. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Application of dental stem cells in three-dimensional tissue regeneration

Dental stem cells can differentiate into different types of cells. Dental pulp stem cells, stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth, periodontal ligament stem cells, stem cells from apical papilla, and dental follicle progenitor cells are five different types of dental stem cells that have been identified during different stages of tooth development. The availability of dental stem cells from discarded or removed teeth makes them promising candidates for tissue engineering. In recent years, three-dimensional (3D) tissue scaffolds have been used to reconstruct and restore different anatomical defects. With rapid advances in 3D tissue engineering, dental stem cells have been used in the regeneration of 3D engineered tissue. This review presents an overview of different types of dental stem cells used in 3D tissue regeneration, which are currently the most common type of stem cells used to treat human tissue conditions.     

Evaluation of dental enamel caries assessment using Quantitative Light Induced Fluorescence and Optical Coherence Tomography

An in vitro study of morphological alterations between sound dental structure and artificially induced white spot lesions in human teeth, was performed through the loss of fluorescence by Quantitative Light‐Induced Fluorescence (QLF) and the alterations of the light attenuation coefficient by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). To analyze the OCT images using a commercially available system, a special algorithm was applied, whereas the QLF images were analyzed using the software available in the commercial system employed. When analyzing the sound region against white spot lesions region by QLF, a reduction in the fluorescence intensity was observed, whilst an increase of light attenuation by the OCT system occurred. Comparison of the percentage of alteration between optical properties of sound and artificial enamel caries regions showed that OCT processed images through the attenuation of light enhanced the tooth optical alterations more than fluorescence detected by QLF System.

QLF versus OCT imaging of enamel caries: a photonics assessment     

Optical coherence tomography follow‐up of patients treated from periodontal disease

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is one of the most important imaging modalities for biophotonics applications. In this work, an important step towards the clinical use of OCT in dental practice is reported, by following‐up patients treated from periodontal disease (PD). A total of 147 vestibular dental sites from 14 patients diagnosed with PD were evaluated prior and after treatment, using a swept‐source OCT and two periodontal probes (Florida probe and North Carolina) for comparison. The evaluation was performed at four stages: day 0, day 30, day 60 and day 90. Exceptionally one patient was evaluated 1‐year after treatment. It was possible to visualize in the two‐dimensional images the architectural components that compose the periodontal anatomy, and identify the improvements in biofilm and dental calculus upon treatment. In the follow‐up after the treatment, it was observed in some cases decrease of the gingival thickness associated with extinction of gingival calculus. In some cases, the improvement of both depth of probing with the traditional probes and the evidence in the images of the region was emphasized. The study evidenced the ability of OCT in the identification of periodontal structures and alterations, being an important noninvasive complement or even alternative for periodontal probes for treatment follow‐up. OCT system being used in a clinical environment. Above OCT image (left) prior treatment and (right) 30 days after treatment.      

Improving the spatial orientation of human teeth using a virtual 3D approach

Since teeth are resistant to decomposition processes, they provide important and at times unique sources of information about fossil humans. Fortunately, dental remains reflect significant evolutionary changes. These changes make a very important and often exclusive contribution to the definition of new taxa or the attribution of fossil specimens to existing taxa.The traditional approach to dental morphometric analyses usually focuses on the recording of several measures of the tooth with calipers, especially the two basic crown diameters (buccolingual and mesiodistal). However, since these measures do not adequately represent the complex morphology of the tooth, 2D images and 3D digital models of dental morphology have been used. For both types of analysis, the possibility of correctly comparing homologous teeth depends on the adoption of a common orientation system. The lack of such a system makes it difficult to compare the results of different studies.Here we describe a new method for orienting teeth specifically devised for the upper and lower first molar (M1). Samples of unworn maxillary (n = 15) and mandibular (n = 15) first molars of modern humans were scanned with a Roland Picza 3D digitizer. The 3D virtual models were used to compare our new orientation method with those proposed in the literature. The new orientation system, which meets a geometric criterion, is based on three points identified on the cervical line and ensures acceptable repeatability of the spatial positioning and orientation independent of the shape and wear of the first molar under investigation. This orientation system is a first step toward the creation of a virtual set of hominid and fossil human first molars, which will allow us to make comparisons via a sophisticated and noninvasive approach. This pilot study also provides guidelines to extend the new methodology to the other types of teeth.     

Real-Time Automatic Segmentation of Optical Coherence Tomography Volume Data of the Macular Region

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a high speed, high resolution and non-invasive imaging modality that enables the capturing of the 3D structure of the retina. The fast and automatic analysis of 3D volume OCT data is crucial taking into account the increased amount of patient-specific 3D imaging data. In this work, we have developed an automatic algorithm, OCTRIMA 3D (OCT Retinal IMage Analysis 3D), that could segment OCT volume data in the macular region fast and accurately. The proposed method is implemented using the shortest-path based graph search, which detects the retinal boundaries by searching the shortest-path between two end nodes using Dijkstra’s algorithm. Additional techniques, such as inter-frame flattening, inter-frame search region refinement, masking and biasing were introduced to exploit the spatial dependency between adjacent frames for the reduction of the processing time. Our segmentation algorithm was evaluated by comparing with the manual labelings and three state of the art graph-based segmentation methods. The processing time for the whole OCT volume of 496×644×51 voxels (captured by Spectralis SD-OCT) was 26.15 seconds which is at least a 2-8-fold increase in speed compared to other, similar reference algorithms used in the comparisons. The average unsigned error was about 1 pixel (∼ 4 microns), which was also lower compared to the reference algorithms. We believe that OCTRIMA 3D is a leap forward towards achieving reliable, real-time analysis of 3D OCT retinal data.     

Use of 2D images of depth and integrated reflectivity to represent the severity of demineralization in cross‐polarization optical coherence tomography

Several studies have demonstrated the potential of cross‐polarization optical coherence tomography (CP‐OCT) to quantify the severity of early caries lesions (tooth decay) on tooth surfaces. The purpose of this study is to show that 2D images of the lesion depth and the integrated reflectivity can be used to accurately represent the severity of early lesions. Simulated early lesions of varying severity were produced on tooth samples using simulated lesion models. Methods were developed to convert the 3D CP‐OCT images of the samples to 2D images of the lesion depth and lesion integrated reflectivity. Calculated lesion depths from OCT were compared with lesion depths measured from histological sections examined using polarized light microscopy. The 2D images of the lesion depth and integrated reflectivity are well suited for visualization of early demineralization. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Optical coherence tomography image denoising using a generative adversarial network with speckle modulation

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is widely used for biomedical imaging and clinical diagnosis. However, speckle noise is a key factor affecting OCT image quality. Here, we developed a custom generative adversarial network (GAN) to denoise OCT images. A speckle‐modulating OCT (SM‐OCT) was built to generate low speckle images to be used as the ground truth. In total, 210 000 SM‐OCT images were used for training and validating the neural network model, which we call SM‐GAN. The performance of the SM‐GAN method was further demonstrated using online benchmark retinal images, 3D OCT images acquired from human fingers and OCT videos of a beating fruit fly heart. The denoise performance of the SM‐GAN model was compared to traditional OCT denoising methods and other state‐of‐the‐art deep learning based denoise networks. We conclude that the SM‐GAN model presented here can effectively reduce speckle noise in OCT images and videos while maintaining spatial and temporal resolutions.