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. 2025 May 21;40(1):233.
doi: 10.1007/s10103-025-04493-w.

Ex vivo microstructural investigations of oral lichen planus lesions by spectral domain optical coherence tomography

Alessio Gambino  1 , Eugenio Giuseppe Martina  2 , Francesca Spampinato  3 , Giorgia El Haddad  3 , Roberto Broccoletti  3 , Luigi Chiusa  3 , Paolo Giacomo Arduino  3
Affiliations

Ex vivo microstructural investigations of oral lichen planus lesions by spectral domain optical coherence tomography

Alessio Gambino et al. Lasers Med Sci. .

Abstract

The aim of the work is to evaluate the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) capabilities in identifying the microstructural pattern of reticular Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) and compare it with the histopathological findings, to identify a common interpretation key and validate OCT as a diagnostic tool for this autoimmune inflammatory pathology. Eight patients were recruited (aged between 44 and 71 years). The anatomical sites chosen is the buccal mucosa, since it is typical of lichen lesions to be analysed. We took into consideration typical white signs of OLP: reticular and plaque lesions. Comparison between OCT scans and histological slides were carried out. Results show a strong correlation between OCT and histopathological evaluations. Hyperkeratosis occurs as a superficial hyperreflective zone. The lamina propria loses its hyper-reflective characteristic. This is probably due to the presence of the inflammatory infiltrate, which causes a decrease in signal strength. For the basement membrane, difficulties were encountered in interpreting it. This study shows that it is possible to identify clear differences between pathological tissue and healthy counterpart in OCT, both in epithelial and connective tissues. In addition, we observed a concordance in epithelial measurements between OCT image and histological image. These observations indicate promising potentials and need to be confirmed by further studies, in order to compare the results and arrive to an objective pattern of OLP, framing the possible role of OCT as a non-invasive diagnostic tool.

Keywords: Histopathology; Optical biopsy; Optical coherence tomography; Oral lichen planus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research commit- tee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Consent for publication: All authors have agreed to publish this manuscript. All materials and images are original. no consent-related needs to declare. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Example of a standard OCT system
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Biopsy sample after sectioning: the scanned part of the OCT system is highlighted within the red box
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Telesto system OCT software
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Selection for 3D (a) and 2D (b) scan modality with regulation knob (c); dynamic range between 20 and 60 dB in 3D (d) 2D (e); dynamic range between 30 and 70 dB in 3D (f) and 2D (g); dynamic range between 40 and 80 dB in 3D (h) and 2D (i)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Representative image for measurements in OCT (a) and in traditional histology(b)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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