Systems and methods for imaging and processing tissue

A method of imaging a tissue organ comprising:

• illuminating a first region of tissue within an organ with light, the organ being positioned in an optical path of an imaging system;
• detecting light from the tissue in response to the illuminating light to form an a first image of the first region of tissue, the first image including imaged tissue within the organ below a first sectioning depth;
• sectioning a portion of the imaged tissue at the first sectioning depth to expose a second region of tissue and to form a first tissue section;
• illuminating the second region of tissue;
• detecting light from the second region of tissue to form a first image of the second region of tissue, the first image of the second region of tissue including imaged tissue within the organ below a second sectioning depth;
• sectioning a portion of the second region of tissue at the second sectioning depth to form a second tissue section;
• registering the first image of the first region of tissue with the first image of the second region of tissue;
• processing the first tissue section and the second tissue section;
• imaging the processed first tissue section and the processed second tissue section with an optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging mode to form processed OCT tissue images;
• and
• analyzing the processed OCT tissue images in combination with at least the first image of the first region of tissue to register the processed OCT tissue images of the first tissue section and the second tissue section.