All-Optical Photoacoustic And Reflectance Confocal Microscopy For Melanoma Characterization

A combined all-optical photoacoustic microscopy (AOPAM)/reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) system for characterization of melanoma has been developed. It allows for visualizing the morphology of vasculature in the AOPAM mode and skin cellular-level details with a high resolution in the RCM mode. The feasibility test was first verified in the seaweed phantom, and the practical application of the all-optical photoacoustic /reflectance confocal microscopy (AOPA/RCM) system was further performed in the intravital biological tissues of mice bearing melanoma and normal tissue. The results demonstrated that AOPA/RCM can provide comprehensive parameters with clinical relevance: AOPAM helps to visualize optical absorption information of vascular patterns and pigmentation with a high contrast and a deep penetration depth, while RCM provides the cytological features of cells and the layered microstructure changes of tissues in the epidermal layer of melanocytic lesions. Hence, these results highlight the potential benefits of combining these two technologies in accurate and reliable identification of melanoma with comprehensive information. (C) 2019 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).