2010 Volume 52 Issue 5 Pages 1393-1402
[Background and Aim] Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new technique with high resolution 10 times greater than the resolution of intraductal ultrasonography (IDUS). The aim of this study is to validate the effectiveness of OCT by performing visual inspections comparing images from OCT and IDUS demonstrating the ability to diagnose horizontal extension of the bile duct cancer and intraductal papillary-mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas (IPMN). [Patients and Methods] In total, 10 cancer cases were examined with both OCT and IDUS, 6 of which developed from bile duct structure and 4 from the pancreatic duct. Four cases out of 10 were examined by transpapillary probe insertion in vivo. The images taken from the 10 cases were visually evaluated histopathologically. [Results] This study demonstrated that OCT surpasses IDUS in obtaining high resolution despite its limited penetration depth of approx. 1 to 2 mm. The results demonstrated that the images from OCT had demarcated layers such as a mucosal layer, a fibromuscular or connective tissue layer, and a subserosal layer. Also the images proved that OCT could clearly describe the mucosal thickness of inflammation from the intramural extension of bile duct cancers. What is more, minor hyperplastic change in the pancreatic duct could be depicted with high accuracy. [Conclusion] This study has proved the effectiveness of OCT on images of horizontal extension of bile duct cancers and IPMN.
