Ultrasound-enhanced optical coherence tomography: improved penetration and resolution

Abstract

Increasing penetration remains one of the most important issues in optical coherence tomography (OCT) research, which we achieved with a parallel ultrasound beam. In addition to qualitative improvements of tissue imaging, quantitative improvements in resolution of up to $28\%\pm 2\%$ was noted. At lower frequencies and energies the improvement occurred primarily by altering the detection of multiply scattered light (photon–phonon interaction), which was substantially greater in solids than in liquids (even though the liquid had the higher scattering coefficient). In conclusion, the use of an ultrasound beam with OCT appears the most effective means to date for increasing imaging penetration.

© 2008 Optical Society of America

Acoustic modulation and photon–phonon scattering in optical coherence tomography

Paul A. Edney and Joseph T. Walsh
Appl. Opt. 40(34) 6381-6388 (2001)

High-resolution ultrasound-modulated optical tomography in biological tissues

Sava Sakadžić and Lihong V. Wang
Opt. Lett. 29(23) 2770-2772 (2004)

Impact of enhanced resolution, speed and penetration on three-dimensional retinal optical coherence tomography

Boris Považay, Bernd Hofer, Cristiano Torti, Boris Hermann, Alexandre R. Tumlinson, Marieh Esmaeelpour, Catherine A. Egan, Alan C. Bird, and Wolfgang Drexler
Opt. Express 17(5) 4134-4150 (2009)

In vivo feasibility of endovascular Doppler optical coherence tomography

Cuiru Sun, Felix Nolte, Kyle H. Y. Cheng, Barry Vuong, Kenneth K. C. Lee, Beau A. Standish, Brian Courtney, Thomas R. Marotta, Adrian Mariampillai, and Victor X. D. Yang
Biomed. Opt. Express 3(10) 2600-2610 (2012)

Integrated optical coherence tomography, ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging for ovarian tissue characterization

Yi Yang, Xiang Li, Tianheng Wang, Patrick D. Kumavor, Andres Aguirre, Kirk K. Shung, Qifa Zhou, Melinda Sanders, Molly Brewer, and Quing Zhu
Biomed. Opt. Express 2(9) 2551-2561 (2011)