Radiation therapy of the head and neck cancer patients causes late oral radiation
complications such as xerostomia (dry mouth) or mucosal atrophy. Currently, methods such as
hyperbaric oxygen are used to treat these complications; however, there are no quantifiable
means of assessing the outcome of these methods. At present, subjective methods such as
superficial examination of the oral cavity are used, yet complications are known to mostly
start in the subsurface layers. In this feasibility study, we apply an imaging technique
called optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a means of providing objective and quantifiable
images of the subsurface micro-structural and micro-vascular changes of oral tissue.
Depth-resolved, micrometer-resolution OCT images provide information on changes associated
with late radiation complications.