Optical coherence tomography monitoring of vulvar lichen sclerosus therapy

The study is devoted to in vivo assessment of the vulvar tissue affected by lichen sclerosus and determining the severity of the disease by the state of connective tissue, blood flow and lymph flow using multimodal optical coherence tomography. This research will open up the possibility of developing and applying an effective noninvasive high-resolution method for visualization the state and depth of connective tissue lesions by scattering and polarization properties of the vulvar tissue, the blood flow and lymph flow based on the method of spectral multimodal OCT to assess the severity of lichen sclerosus. The in vivo OCT monitoring both the early dynamics of the response of all components of the vulvar tissue to low-level laser therapy (LLLT), and the degree of structure reparation after the treatment was carried out. Different response to LLLT was revealed: 3 of 10 patients had complete resolution of symptoms, 4 patients noted improvement in symptoms and 3 patients had no change in symptoms within 6 months of treatment and it was visualized by OCT.