Abstract
Micro-optical coherence tomography (µOCT) is a novel imaging approach enabling visualization of the microstructures of biological tissues at a cellular or sub-cellular level. However, it has been challenging to develop a miniaturized flexible endoscopic µOCT probe allowing helical luminal scanning. In this study, we built a flexible endoscopic µOCT probe with an outer diameter of 1.2 mm, which acquires three-dimensional images of the arterial microstructures via helical scanning with an axial and lateral resolutions of 1.83 µm and 3.38 µm in air, respectively. Furthermore, the depth of focus of the µOCT imaging probe was extended two-fold using a binary phase spatial filter. We demonstrated that the present endoscopic µOCT could image cellular level features of a rabbit artery with high-risk atheroma and a bioresorbable scaffold-implanted swine coronary artery. This highly-translatable endoscopic µOCT will be a useful tool for investigating coronary artery disease and stent biology.
Highlights
Micro-optical coherence tomography is a novel imaging approach enabling visualization of the microstructures of biological tissues at a cellular or sub-cellular level
We report our experience with using a flexible low-profile endoscopic μOCT imaging probe and a dedicated optical rotary junction that allow full 360° helical scanning
We demonstrated the feasibility of a flexible endoscopic μOCT system for intravascular imaging by testing it in coronary-sized vessels of various animal models, including a healthy swine coronary artery, bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS)-implanted swine coronary artery, and rabbit artery with high-risk atherosclerotic plaques
Summary
Micro-optical coherence tomography (μOCT) is a novel imaging approach enabling visualization of the microstructures of biological tissues at a cellular or sub-cellular level. OCT provides highly detailed images (spatial resolution of 10 to 30 μm)[12,13,14], it is as yet insufficient for visualizing cellular- or subcellular-level structures, which may be essential for studying the progression and regression of the disease. We report our experience with using a flexible low-profile endoscopic μOCT imaging probe and a dedicated optical rotary junction that allow full 360° helical scanning This cutting-edge μOCT imaging modality provides high-resolution tomographic images with axial and lateral resolution of 1.83 μm and 3.38 μm, respectively, while maintaining the extended DOF. To demonstrate the feasibility of the present technique for intravascular imaging, we tested it using a healthy swine coronary artery, a bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS)-implanted swine coronary artery, and a rabbit artery with high-risk atherosclerotic plaques
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