Optical Coherence Tomography: An Adjunct to Flexible Bronchoscopy in the Diagnosis of Lung Cancer (OCT)

OCT could become a powerful tool in diagnostic pulmonary medicine, not only in the early recognition of lung cancer, but also in the evaluation and monitoring of microstructures in the lower respiratory tract that are affected by other inflammatory or invasive disease processes. Initially, OCT could be used to guide the location of biopsies which would likely provide increased specificity to traditional bronchoscopy. However, if the sensitivity and specificity of OCT images are comparable to histologic specimens, this technology may in the future provide a non-invasive "optical biopsy", which could potentially obviate the need for conventional biopsies in patients with high risks for complications, such as bleeding.