Biomedical imaging using optical coherence tomography

Summary form only given.Excisional biopsy and histology is one of the gold standards in medical diagnosis. In this technique, a specimen of tissue is removed from the patient, processed, microtomed, and examined under optical microscopy. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new and powerful technology that can overcome many of the limitations of the above. OCT is a recently developed optical imaging technique for performing high-resolution cross-sectional imaging tomographic of microstructure in biological systems. OCT performs imaging by using low-coherence interferometry to measure the optical backscattering of tissue as a function of echo delay and transverse position. The resulting two-dimensional data can be displayed as a gray scale or false color image. OCT functions as a type of optical biopsy to provide cross-sectional images of tissue structure on the micron scale. OCT is a powerful imaging technology because it can provide images of tissue in situ and in real time, without the need for tissue excision and processing.