Nondestructive volumetric tumor yield assessment and tissue classification in lung nodule core biopsy using polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography

Inadequacy of tumor tissue in transthoracic core needle biopsy (CNB) and transbronchial biopsy specimens, often due to contamination by fibrosis and normal lung elements, precludes accurate diagnosis, tumor subtyping and molecular testing, and impedes biobanking for research. Frozen section and touch prep methods are not utilized for adequacy assessment because they are destructive and consume tissue. We investigate polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT), including birefringence and degree of depolarization uniformity metrics, for non-destructive, volumetric quantification of tumor yield in lung CNB specimens. PS-OCT distinguishes tumor, fibrosis and lung parenchyma with high accuracy, demonstrating potential for rapid CNB adequacy assessment.