4-D Imaging of Beating Tissues Using Optical Coherence Tomography

An imaging technique which reconstructs structure and flow in tissue with repetitive motion was developed using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). The demonstrated technique is able to accurately image both host tissue and flow at different time points during a cyclic motion, such as a cardiac cycle. Using tissue-mimicking phantoms, a phase-sensitive spectral-domain OCT system was combined with a cyclic-motion simulator to demonstrate the feasibility of the method. 3-D flow information at different time points in the cyclical motion was reconstructed in the temporal domain thus generating the 4-D imaging of the target tissue. This method could expand OCT-based studies such as those with cyclic motions in tissues, and open the door to 4-D vascular imaging of periodically moving tissues such as beating heart using OCT techniques.