OCT is a perspective method for glial tumor margins detection during surgical operation. The challenging clinical problem of improving the functional outcomes of the surgeries on the central nervous system could be solved with the aid of cross-polarization (CP) OCT, which visualizes light backscattered from the sample in two orthogonal polarizations and gives sensitivity to the myelinated fibers. This study aimed to evaluate CP OCT feasibility to distinguish different types of brain tissue during glioma surgery to assess tumor margins and the proximity to the conductive pathways of the brain. Postoperative human specimens (tumorous tissue and peritumoral tissue, n = 40) for ex vivo СP OCT study were taken with considering the location of eloquent brain areas and tracts. Regions of sampling were also recorded at the neuronavigation station. It was shown, that the quantitative characteristics of the OCT signal of the tumor and peritumoral area have quite good correspondence with the tumor location according to the preoperative MRI, and better correlated with histological data. The same results were demonstrated for comparison of the OCT signal of the peritumoral areas and the normal white matter with the MRI-tractography and histological data. In conclusion, the CP OCT method has a high potential for intraoperative application to clarify the presence of infiltration areas and proximity to eloquent brain areas and tracts. The study was supported by RFBR projects No. 18-29-01049_mk and No. 16-32-60178 mol_а_dk.
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