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Three-dimensional endomicroscopy using optical coherence tomography

Nature Photonics volume 1, pages 709–716 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography enables micrometre-scale, subsurface imaging of biological tissue by measuring the magnitude and echo time delay of backscattered light. Endoscopic optical coherence tomography imaging inside the body can be performed using fibre-optic probes. To perform three-dimensional optical coherence tomography endomicroscopy with ultrahigh volumetric resolution, however, requires extremely high imaging speeds. Here we report advances in optical coherence tomography technology using a Fourier-domain mode-locked frequency-swept laser as the light source. The laser, with a 160-nm tuning range at a wavelength of 1,315 nm, can produce images with axial resolutions of 5–7 µm. In vivo three-dimensional optical coherence tomography endomicroscopy is demonstrated at speeds of 100,000 axial lines per second and 50 frames per second. This enables virtual manipulation of tissue geometry, speckle reduction, synthesis of en face views similar to endoscopic images, generation of cross-sectional images with arbitrary orientation, and quantitative measurements of morphology. This technology can be scaled to even higher speeds and will open up three-dimensional optical-coherence-tomography endomicroscopy to a wide range of medical applications.

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Figure 1: FDML laser schematic and performance.
Figure 2: 3D-OCT set-up.
Figure 3: Volumetric renderings of in vivo rabbit colon.
Figure 4: Longitudinal (YZ) images through the centre of the colon volume.
Figure 5: En face (XY ) images from colonic mucosa layer.
Figure 6: Cross-sectional (XZ ) images with quantitative feature measurements.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank Bob Shearer from Lightlabs Imaging for his contributions. This research was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01-CA75289-09 and R01-EY011289-20), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (grants FA9550-040-1-0046 and FA9550-040-1-0011), National Science Foundation (grants BES-0522845 and ECS-0501478), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (supporting D.C.A.), and the German Science Foundation DFG (supporting R.H.). R.H. was visiting from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Desmond C. Adler, Yu Chen, Robert Huber & James G. Fujimoto

  2. Lehrstuhl für BioMolekulare Optik, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, 80538, Germany

    Robert Huber

  3. Lightlab Imaging, Westford, 01886, Massachusetts, USA

    Joseph Schmitt

  4. Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, 02215, Massachusetts, USA

    James Connolly

Authors
  1. Desmond C. Adler
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  2. Yu Chen
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  6. James G. Fujimoto
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Contributions

D.C.A. and Y.C. were responsible for project planning, experimental work and data analysis. R.H. was responsible for experimental work. J.S. was responsible for experimental work, designed the equipment and provided technical material. J.C. was responsible for project planning and provided biological materials. J.G.F. obtained support, administered the project and was responsible for project planning.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James G. Fujimoto.

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Competing interests

J.G. Fujimoto and R. Huber receive royalties from intellectual property owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and licensed to LightLab Imaging. J. Schmitt is an employee of LightLab Imaging. D.C. Adler and Y. Chen have no competing financial interests in this work.

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Adler, D., Chen, Y., Huber, R. et al. Three-dimensional endomicroscopy using optical coherence tomography. Nature Photon 1, 709–716 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2007.228

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