High-speed imaging of remotely induced shear waves using phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Shear wave optical coherence elastography (SW-OCE) is a quantitative approach to assess tissue structures and elasticity with high resolution, based on OCT. Shear wave imaging (SWI) is the foundation of shear wave elasticity imaging (SWEI), which is a quantitative approach to assess tissue structures and pathological status. In order to enhance elastography resolution to micron scale, the shear waves needs to be highly localized, with short wavelength and high frequency (second order of kHz), which also places stricter requirement on the temporal resolution requirements of SWI device. In this paper, we introduced two approaches to remotely induce high frequency shear waves within tissue samples: ultrasound acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI), and high energy nanosecond pulsed laser. The maximum frequency of pulsed laser induced shear waves in tissue-mimicking phantoms can go up to 25 kHz, which is not possible to be captured and tracked by other SWI modalities. We use a custom-built SWI-OCT system to visualize and capture the nanometer scale shear waves, achieving a spatial resolution up to 15 um and frame rate of up to 92 kHz. The dynamic wave propagation data was then used for the reconstruction of localized wave velocity and elasticity. This study demonstrates the non-contact shear wave generation with pulsed laser source, and ultra-fast, high-resolution sectional acoustical wave tracking with remarkable sensitivity, promising a future clinical application for a high-resolution quantitative mapping of elasticity in vivo, non-contact and real time in OCT-accessible tissue, especially in ocular tissues.