Photothermal optical coherence tomography in ex vivo human breast tissues using gold nanoshells

Abstract

We demonstrate photothermal optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging in highly scattering human breast tissue ex vivo. A 120 kHz axial scan rate, swept-source phase-sensitive OCT system at 1300 nm was used to detect phase changes induced by 830 nm photothermal excitation of gold nanoshells. Localized phase modulation was observed 300–600 μm deep in scattering tissue using an excitation power of only 22 mW at modulation frequencies up to 20 kHz. This technique enables integrated structural and molecular-targeted imaging for cancer markers using nanoshells.