Differential diagnosis of acute and chronic colitis in mice by optical coherence tomography

Dan Li; Shijie Ding; Manting Luo; Jinguo Chen; Qiukun Zhang; Yijuan Liu; Anlan Li; Shuncong Zhong; Jian Ding

doi:10.21037/qims-21-1062

Differential diagnosis of acute and chronic colitis in mice by optical coherence tomography

Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2022 Jun;12(6):3193-3203. doi: 10.21037/qims-21-1062.

Authors

Dan Li^#¹, Shijie Ding^#², Manting Luo³, Jinguo Chen³, Qiukun Zhang⁴, Yijuan Liu², Anlan Li², Shuncong Zhong⁴, Jian Ding⁵

Affiliations

¹ Digestive Department, Union Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
² Digestive Department, the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
³ School of Mechanical, Electrical and Information Engineering, Putian University, Putian, China.
⁴ Laboratory of Optics, Terahertz and Non-Destructive Testing, School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China.
⁵ Digestive Department, Minnan Hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: The differential diagnosis of acute and chronic colitis remains a common clinical problem. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive, high-resolution imaging technique that can be used to measure morphological changes in the intestinal wall and estimate intestinal inflammation. We aimed to conduct an ex vivo experiment on a mouse model investigate the value of OCT as a tool for the differential diagnosis of acute and chronic colitis.

Methods: Mice were administered dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) to construct acute and chronic colitis models. Acutely- and chronically-affected intestinal walls were scanned by OCT, and then the scanned colonic tissue samples were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE). Structural and morphological changes indicating inflammation in the intestinal wall were evaluated in the HE sections and OCT images using different parameters. The parameters were used in one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to screen for a differential diagnosis of acute or chronic colitis.

Results: For the HE sections, the angle of the mucosal folds, length of the basilar part, and submucosal height and area were statistically significant parameters in the comparisons between the mice with acute colitis and the control-group mice (P<0.05). In the comparisons between chronic colitis mice and control-group mice, the angle of the mucosal folds, length of the basilar part, submucosal height and area, muscularis thickness, submucosal height + muscularis thickness, and mucosal thickness were statistically significant parameters (P<0.05). Finally, in the comparisons between acute colitis mice and those with chronic colitis, the angle of the mucosal folds, submucosal height and area, muscularis thickness, submucosal height + muscularis thickness, and mucosal thickness were statistically significant parameters (P<0.05). For the OCT images, only the length of the basilar part and submucosal height + muscularis thickness were statistically significant parameters between the acute colitis mice and control-group mice (P<0.05). The length of the basilar part and submucosal height + muscularis thickness were statistically significant between chronic colitis mice and control-group mice (P<0.05). In the comparisons between acute colitis mice and those with chronic colitis, only submucosal height + muscularis thickness was a statistically significant parameter (P<0.05).

Conclusions: Certain intestinal wall parameters in OCT can be used to make a differential diagnosis between acute and chronic colitis possible. This study contributes to constructing a potential diagnostic system for evaluating colorectal inflammation using OCT.

Keywords: Acute colitis; chronic colitis; differential diagnosis; intestinal wall; optical coherence tomography (OCT).