Birefringence imaging for optical sensing of tissue damage

We present an automated technique to detect and quantify damage to biological tissue by sensing changes in the tissue´s optical birefringence. Birefringence is a property of many types of tissue, which decreases with damage. Using a polarisation-sensitive optical coherence tomography scanner, the method first acquires a 3D scan of the area of tissue under analysis. By calculating the birefringence at each location on the surface of the tissue, we build a 2D image indicative of the biological microstructure, with areas of abnormally low birefringence indicating tissue damage. The technique is demonstrated using a model of localised thermal damage on porcine tendon. The resulting birefringence images are validated against a histological gold standard, showing strong correspondence between areas of low and high birefringence, and areas of damaged and undamaged tissue respectively.