Optical Coherence Tomography News

Bioptigen Press Release - Devices become first OCT systems cleared for hand-held ophthalmic imaging of children Bioptigen Inc. has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin marketing its hand-held Envisu Spectral Domain Ophthalmic Imaging System (SDOIS) devices for patient use. The Envisu SDOIS aids in the diagnosis of physiological and pathological conditions of the eye through non-contact optical imaging. In receiving this regulatory clearance, Bioptigen’s Envisu SDOIS become the first optical coherence tomography imaging systems commercially available in the United States for hand-held and pediatric imaging. Envisu’s ergonomic, hand-held scanner enables imaging ...

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Researchers from the Polytechnique Montreal University develop an experimental intra-operative optical coherence tomography based endoscope imaging system to precisely guide the insertion of hemi-staples that are are inserted on the growth plate to locally control vertebral growth to treat adolescent idopathic scoliosis.  Below is a summary of their work.Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a complex three-dimensional deformity of the spine requiring in severe cases invasive surgery. Here, we explore the potential of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a guiding tool for novel fusionless minimally invasive spinal surgeries on an ex vivo porcine model. We show that OCT, despite its ...

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Ninepoint Medical Press Release - NinePoint Medical, Inc., an emerging leader in the development of medical devices for in vivo pathology, today announced that the company will preview its next-generation optical imaging technology, the NvisionVLE™ Imaging System, at Digestive Disease Week 2012 (DDW 2012), being held May 19 to 22 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. NinePoint Medical will provide public demonstrations of the NvisionVLE Imaging System, which is designed to bridge the gap between diagnosis and disease treatment by enabling physicians and pathologists to evaluate high-resolution, volumetric images of organs and tissues in real time. “We are ...

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Developed specifically for the iPad, The Clinical Atlas of OCT offers a rapid and interactive guidance to a systematic and scientifically critical interpretation of OCT images for interventional cardiologists, pathologists, and other physicians, technicians, trainees and research staff.  See screenshots by clicking HERE. Led by Professor Patrick W. Serruys, Dr. Maria Radu, Dr. Lorenz Räber and Dr. Hector Garcia-Garcia, the team behind this publication includes several international well-renowned experts and key opinion leaders within the field of intracoronary imaging and pathology. The Clinical Atlas of Intravascular OCT comprises eight separate chapters offering the following contents: 1. Principles of OCT 2 ...

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The project, entitled ‘Novel optical techniques for enhanced structural, functional and dynamical imaging of anterior and posterior segments of the eye’ consists of two independent parts: The objective of the first part of the project is to broaden knowledge about the dynamic optical processes in the human retina especially these based on auto-fluorescence of retinal tissue, to develop novel ultrahigh resolution, optical imaging modality for visualization of morphology and function of the human retina. The objective of the second part of the project is to develop new, high performance imaging technology , that will have widespread research and clinical applications, to ...

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The project,entitled‘Novel optical techniques forenhanced structural, functional and dynamical imaging of anterior and posteriorsegments of the eye’consistsof two independent parts:Theobjective of the first part of the projectis to broaden knowledge about the dynamic optical processes in the human retinaespecially these based on auto-fluorescence of retinal tissue, to develop novelultrahigh resolution, optical imaging modality for visualization of morphologyand function of the human retina. The objective of the second part of the project is to develop new, high performance imaging technology, that will have widespread research andclinical applications, to elucidate changes in morphology andbiomechanical properties of the anterior ...

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The Massachusetts General Hospital received a $464,845 2012 NIH grant to develop a preclinical optical frequency domain angiography instrument. The principal Investigator is Benjamin Vakoc. This grant is part of a multi-year project that started in 2012 and ends in 2017. Below is a summary of the work. Tumor-induced angiogenesis plays a central role in the progression of tumors to malignancy, provides the critical transport of blood-born therapies into the tumor space, and supplies oxygen to effectuate oxygen-dependent radiological and light-based therapies. Pre-clinical research in tumor angiogenesis and tumor microvascular function has traditionally relied on histological methods, which suffer ...

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The University of Arizona received a $276,708 2012 NIH grant to study diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer by Confocal Microendoscopy. The principal Investigator is Arthur Gmitro. This grant is part of a multi-year project that started in 2005 and ends in 2014. Below is a summary of the work. The objective of this research is to further develop and clinically validate a real-time multispectral confocal microendoscope for in vivo diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The confocal microendoscope is a new type of instrument for visualizing tissue at the cellular level and has shown great promise for performing optical biopsy. Confocal microendoscopy ...

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The University of Iowa won a $526,947 2012 NIH grant to study retinal therapy guided by 3-D Optical Coherence Tomography analysis. The principal Investigator is Milan Sonka. This grant is part of a multi-year project that started in 2010 and ends in 2012. Below is a summary of the work. Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the primary causes of blindness in the U.S. A wealth of powerful new treatments, especially anti-VEGF agents, have recently become available to restore visual function in choroidal neovascularization (CNV), the most severe form of AMD. The risk of ocular adverse ...

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Researchers from the University of Sheffield recently showed the applicability of an extended Jones matrix calculus approach to understand the 3D orientation information of collagen fiber in articular cartilage using multi-angle polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography OCT imaging.  The work could potentially advance the use of OCT imaging in orthopaedics and improve our understanding of the biomechanics and pathological changes occurring in articular cartilage during osteoarthritis.For more information see recent Article. Courtesy Deepa Kasaragod from the University of Sheffield.

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Optovue Press Release: Optovue Announces FDA 510(k) Clearance of the RTVue XR TM FD-OCT RTVue XR is being premiered at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons FREMONT, CA, April 23, 2012 – Optovue, a pioneer in spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), announces that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance of the XR version of their flagship RTVue ® FD-OCT system. Bringing 70,000 A-scans-per-second to spectral-domain OCT, the updated XR version offers clinicians speed that no currently cleared SD-OCT system can match. Together with real-time tracking and the updated SharpVue TM feature, the speed ...

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Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna have a long history of outstanding contributions to the field of Optical Coherence Tomography dating back 25 years.  This week work by Dr. Hitzenberger, one of the pioneers of the field, and his colleagues is featured demonstrating automated measurement of choroidal thickness in the human eye by polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography. Below is a summary of their work.Imaging of retinal layers and quantitative measurements of their thickness are among the most important applications of OCT. E.g., the total retinal thickness is an important quantity for diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, the ...

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Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has demonstrated its potential as a powerful imaging technology due to its cellular or even subcellular resolution (1-10 μm), which is considered suitable for early detection and diagnosis of cancer. For some clinic applications, for example, intravascular or gastrointestinal investigation, full circumferential scanning (FCS) is highly desired. Early research efforts on FCS such as spinning the entire catheter with build-in cables and fibers were capable of scanning at limited speeds with nonlinear motion due to the long cable rotation. Commercially-available micromotors have also been employed to spin mirrors or prisms to achieve FCS. In recent years ...

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A cross-polarization 1310-nm optical coherence tomography system (CP-OCT), using a beam splitter based design, was used to assess ex vivo growth of complex multi-species dental biofilms. These biofilm microcosms were derived from plaque samples along the interface of composite or amalgam restoration in children with a history of early childhood caries. This paper presents a method of measuring the mean biofilm height of mature biofilms using CP-OCT. For our in vivo application, the novel swept source based CP-OCT intraoral probe (Santec Co. Komaki, Japan) dimensions and system image acquisition speed (20 image frames/second) allowed imaging pediatric subjects as young ...

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NinePoint Medical, Inc. is developing, manufacturing and commercializing medical devices that enable in vivo pathology. The Company is preparing to launch its first product, the Nvision VLE™ Imaging System, in 2013. Initial products will integrate breakthrough optical imaging technologies with advanced algorithmic processes to provide physicians with real-time decision making capabilities and image-guided therapies during minimally invasive procedures. These products are based on an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technology licensed from Massachusetts General Hospital called optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI). Integrating the company’s proprietary imaging technology will one day enable changes to diagnosis and surveillance of disease and may ...

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Exalos Press Release - EXALOS AG has introduced its new EBR370000 series of balanced receivers. The balanced receiver family covers wavelength ranges from 400nm to 1600nm. The EXALOS Balanced Receiver (EBR) is engineered to support challenging applications such as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) where high signal-to-noise performance is critical. The EBR370000 devices achieve the lowest noise performance of balanced receivers in this bandwidth region. These receivers feature a compact design and a single 5V supply voltage for OEM applications and allow for electrically switching the gain or for continuously adjusting the bandwidth. Key Features: Continuously adjustable bandwidth from 60 MHz to ...

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The Photonics Laboratories of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) in Japan have developed a new swept light source operating at an A-line rate of 200 kHz. The swept light source was demonstrated at the 2012 BiOS exhibition, and received a favorable reception from OCT-relatedengineers. The swept light source is based on a Littman-Metcalf external cavity laser diode that incorporates an electro-optic (EO) KTN (KTa1-xNbxO3) deflector. The KTN deflector provides a fast and fairly large light deflection as a result of a non-uniform electric field generated by injected carriers. The deflector is a promising candidate for application to light sources ...

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technique used for atomic-resolution protein-structure studies, and currently, robotic automation is often used to monitor and optimize crystallization conditions. However, it is often difficult to identify, by conventional light microscopy, crystals that can be used for X-ray crystallography when micro-size, needle, and salt crystals are also present in the crystallization medium.For the work reported herein, we demonstrated that micro-scale, non-invasive, three-dimensional (3D) cross-sectional, μm-resolution imaging of protein crystals could be achieved using optical coherence tomography (OCT).A wideband, ultra-high resolution, OCT spectrum (supercontinuum) was generated using an ultrashort laser pulse and optical fibers as the light source. Given the ...

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The Center for Biomedical OCT Research and Translation (CBORT), at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School is hosting its first annual OCT workshop, OCT: Technical Foundations and Systematic Implementation. The event will bring a highly select group of OCT engineers and researchers from academia and industry to Boston for intense theoretical and practical training of OCT principles and functionality. Lectures and hands on laboratory demos will be held by leaders in the field including: Professors Brett Bouma, Guillermo (Gary) Tearney, S.H. (Andy) Yun, and Ben Vakoc. Topics will include light source development, signal processing & system calibration, system integration ...

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Heidelberg Engineering Press Release: Heidelberg Engineering GmbH, the leading developer of laser diagnostics for ophthalmic applications, announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted clearance for the new, SPECTRALIS® Anterior Segment Module (ASM). The Anterior Segment Module provides high-resolution images of cornea, anterior chamber angle and sclera utilizing unique Heidelberg Noise Reduction™ technology for enhanced detail. Clinicians can assess both chamber angles at the same time using a 16mm-wide angle-to-angle OCT scan. “The SPECTRALIS Anterior Segment Module paves the way towards digital gonioscopy”, said Sanjay Asrani, MD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Duke University Eye Center ...

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Over the past few years using electronic post optical detection processing to create a synthetic receiver field-of-view has become a very promising technique for offering improved performance in biomedical optical imaging systems. Various approaches around this basic theme have been used in OCT and non-OCT systems such as synthetic aperture radar, digital holography, and other microscopy techniques.  The approach not only allows for improving the classic depth-of-focus vs lateral resolution tradeoff in OCT systems but offers other promising performance enhancement such as eliminating the need for deformable mirrors in adaptive optics ophthalmic imaging and application benefits in other fields such ...

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Imalux Corporation ("Imalux"), a medical device company and developer of the Niris® Imaging System based on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technology, today announced receipt of the CE Mark. Worldwide commercial shipments of the real-time, site of care Niris 1300e tissue microstructure Imaging System have begun. The University of North Carolina, Charlotte has received the first system in the USA. Additional systems will be delivered to the University of Magdeburg and University of Munich-Grosshadern in Germany over the next several weeks. Niris provides an "optical biopsy" for real-time visualization of tissue changes that occur in the earliest stages of disease, while ...

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Dr. David Smith from the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently published an interesting article that identifies an adaptation of optical coherence tomography to plasma turbulence measurements.  However the wavelength of the measurement was not at optical frequencies but rather high frequency microwaves (~300GHz).  Below is a summary of this interesting idea. Low coherence backscattering (LCBS) is a plasma turbulence measurement technique adapted from optical coherence tomography.  Calculations and simulations show LCBS measurements can achieve centimeter-scale spatial resolution using low coherence microwave radiation.  LCBS measurements exhibit several advantages over standard plasma turbulence measurement techniques including immunity to spurious reflections and measurement access ...

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Bioptigen received a $1,257,593 Calendar Year 2012 NIH Grant for Pediatric Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography. The project is a four year project that started in 2008 and ends in 2012. Bradley Bower is the PI. Below is a summary of the study. Acquiring diagnostic images of the retina in children is necessary to the prevention and treatment of pediatric eye disease, but it is often difficult due to the large range of eye shapes and sizes from preemies to older children and the inability of most children within this range to focus on an imaging target during ...

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