Quantitative second harmonic generation microscopy for the structural characterization of capsular collagen in thyroid neoplasms

• Published in: Biomedical optics express Vol. 9; no. 8; pp. 3923 - 3936
• Main Authors: Hristu, Radu, Eftimie, Lucian G, Stanciu, Stefan G, Tranca, Denis E, Paun, Bogdan, Sajin, Maria, Stanciu, George A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Optical Society of America 01-08-2018
• Subjects: (100.2960) Image analysis; (170.6935) Tissue characterization; (180.4315) Nonlinear microscopy
• ISSN: 2156-7085; 2156-7085
• DOI: 10.1364/boe.9.003923

Quantitative second harmonic generation microscopy was used to investigate collagen organization in the fibrillar capsules of human benign and malignant thyroid nodules. We demonstrate that the combination of texture analysis and second harmonic generation images of collagen can be used to differentiate between capsules surrounding the thyroid follicular adenoma and papillary carcinoma nodules. Our findings indicate that second harmonic generation microscopy can provide quantitative information about the collagenous capsule surrounding both the thyroid and thyroid nodules, which may complement traditional histopathological examination.