Heartbeat OCT: in vivo intravascular megahertz-optical coherence tomography.

Tianshi Wang,Geert Springeling,Tom Pfeiffer,Heleen Van Beusekom,Wolfgang Wieser,Gijs Van Soest,Antonius F.W Van Der Steen,Ilona Krabbendam,Evelyn Regar,Robert Huber,Charles T Lancee

doi:10.1364/boe.6.005021

Abstract

Cardiac motion artifacts, non-uniform rotational distortion and undersampling affect the image quality and the diagnostic impact of intravascular optical coherence tomography (IV-OCT). In this study we demonstrate how these limitations of IV-OCT can be addressed by using an imaging system that we called "Heartbeat OCT", combining a fast Fourier Domain Mode Locked laser, fast pullback, and a micromotor actuated catheter, designed to examine a coronary vessel in less than one cardiac cycle. We acquired in vivo data sets of two coronary arteries in a porcine heart with both Heartbeat OCT, working at 2.88 MHz A-line rate, 4000 frames/s and 100 mm/s pullback speed, and with a commercial system. The in vivo results show that Heartbeat OCT provides faithfully rendered, motion-artifact free, fully sampled vessel wall architecture, unlike the conventional IV-OCT data. We present the Heartbeat OCT system in full technical detail and discuss the steps needed for clinical translation of the technology.

Highlights

Intravascular Optical Coherence Tomography (IV-optical coherence tomography (OCT)) [1,2,3,4] is a catheter-based imaging technique that provides comprehensive volumetric microscopy of the artery, with 10-15 μm resolution
In this study we demonstrate how these limitations of intravascular optical coherence tomography (IV-OCT) can be addressed by using an imaging system that we called “Heartbeat OCT”, combining a fast Fourier Domain Mode Locked laser, fast pullback, and a micromotor actuated catheter, designed to examine a coronary vessel in less than one cardiac cycle
We acquired in vivo data sets of two coronary arteries in a porcine heart with both Heartbeat OCT, working at 2.88 MHz A-line rate, 4000 frames/s and 100 mm/s pullback speed, and with a commercial system

Summary

Introduction

Intravascular Optical Coherence Tomography (IV-OCT) [1,2,3,4] is a catheter-based imaging technique that provides comprehensive volumetric microscopy of the artery, with 10-15 μm resolution. A number of issues, – cardiac motion artifacts, undersampling and non-uniform rotational distortion (NURD) among them – affect the quality and interpretability of IV-OCT images [8,9,10,11,12]. NURD is a result of rotational friction of the hollow drive-shaft in the catheter, leading to variable torque transfer from the proximal motor to the catheter tip [8, 9, 16]. It appears as distortion in a single frame, or as wobbling of frames relative to each other

Methods

Results

Conclusion