Significance: Real-time histology can close a variety of gaps in tissue diagnostics. Currently, gross pathology analysis of excised tissue is dependent upon visual inspection and palpation to identify regions of interest for histopathological processing. Such analysis is limited by the variable correlation between macroscopic and microscopic findings. The current standard of care is costly, burdensome, and inefficient.
Aim: We are the first to address this gap by introducing optical coherence tomography (OCT) to be integrated in real-time during the pathology grossing process.
Approach: This is achieved by our high-resolution, ultrahigh-speed, large field-of-view OCT device designed for this clinical application.
Results: We demonstrate the feasibility of imaging tissue sections from multiple human organs (breast, prostate, lung, and pancreas) in a clinical gross pathology setting without interrupting standard workflows.
Conclusions: OCT-based real-time histology evaluation holds promise for addressing a gap that has been present for >100 years.
Keywords: breast cancer; lung disease; optical coherence tomography; pancreatic disease; pathology; prostate cancer.