Aberrant Crypt Foci (ACF) are thought to be precursors of colon cancer. Our current study aspires to identify defining charancteristics of ACF using OCT and microscopic images. The following paragraph dilineates the basic protocol followed during the experiments.

The cancerous human colon tissue is washed and stained in methylene blue dye before being placed under a light microscope. The light microscope helps to identify regions on the tissue that are suspicious. Crypts that look larger than the surrounding crypts or those that are stained darker are marked with a pin. The tissue is then placed under the OCT microscope and microscopic and OCT images are taken of the ROI. The OCT images the depth of the tissue, namely the epithelial, mucosal and submucosal layers.

Current Status of the Study We have faced a number of challenges along the course. Lack of uniformity in the results obtained has been the basic problem. Crypt sizes vary drastically from tissue to tissue and from person to person making it hard to judge whether crypts are aberrant or simply a different normal size. OCT image quality varies due to changes made to the machine. The more important and the more difficult task remains to be done after the experiment - image analysis. What aspects of the image are vital to our study and how they can be extracted are questions that have yet to be answered. This is the focus at the moment so stay tuned for further updates.

Following are some terms that it would be helpful to be familiar with to better understand the literature pertaining to this study. Source - dictionary.com

dysplasia - abnormal development of growth of tissues, organs or cells (some people break this down into different grades = low grade dysplasia, high grade displasia etc.)

adenoma - a benign epithelial tumor having glandular origin

neoplastic - An abnormal growth of tissue in animals or plants

lesion - a wound or injury; a diseased patch of skin

crypt - a small pit, glandular cavity in the body

aberrant - deviating from what is normal

foci - center of interest or activity

tbil - "The Biophotonics Imaging Laboratories" A group of laboratories at CWRU directed by Dr. Andrew Rollins which use light in the visible and near infrared to image tissue.

tomography - any of several techniques for making detailed relays of a predetermined plane section of a solid object while blurring out images of other planes

Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) - colon cancer predisposition syndrome in which precancerous colonic polyps develop; without colectomy colon cancer is inevitable