Improved quality of optical coherence tomography imaging of basal cell carcinomas using speckle reduction

BACKGROUND: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a possible imaging method for delineation of non-melanoma skin cancer. Speckle noise is the dominant noise contribution in OCT images; it limits the ability to identify cellular structures especially skin cancer. QUESTIONS ADDRESSED: This report suggests a method for improving OCT image quality for skin cancer imaging. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: OCT is an optical imaging method analogous to ultrasound. Two basal cell carcinomas (BCC) were imaged using an OCT speckle reduction technique (SR-OCT) based on repeated scanning by altering the distance between the probe and the surface of the skin. RESULTS: SR-OCT resulted in improved visualisation and more accurate thickness measurements in BCC lesions. CONCLUSION: This OCT speckle reduction method led to improved visualisation and better defined delineations in two BCC lesions. Thus, OCT was improved to a clinically relevant level when imaging BCC lesions.