Optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides high spatial resolution and sensitivity that are ideal for imaging the cornea and lens. Quantifying the biomechanical properties of these tissues could add clinically valuable information. Thus, we propose a dynamic elastography method combining OCT detection and a mechanical actuator to map the shear modulus of soft tissues. We used a piezoelectric actuator driven in the kHz range and we used phase-sensitive OCT (PhS-OCT) to track the resulting shear waves at an equivalent frame rate of 47 kHz. We mapped the shear wave speed of anesthetized mice cornea using monochromatic excitations. We found a significant ...
Optical microangiography based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) is prone to noise that arises from a static tissue region. Here, we propose a method that can significantly reduce this noise. The method is developed based on an approach that uses the magnitude information of OCT signals to produce tissue microangiograms, especially suitable for the case where a swept-source OCT system is deployed. By combined use of two existing OCT microangiography methods—ultrahigh-sensitive optical microangiography (UHS-OMAG) and correlation mapping OCT (cmOCT)—the final tissue microangiogram is generated by masking UHS-OMAG image using the binary representation of cmOCT image. We find that ...
Shear wave elastography measures the stiffness of soft tissues from the speed of propagating shear waves induced in tissue. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a promising detection modality given its high sensitivity and spatial resolution, making it suitable for elastic characterization of skin, peripheral vasculature or ocular tissues. For clinical applications, it would be valuable to use a non-contact shear source. Thus, we propose acoustic radiation force as a remote shear source combined with OCT for visualization. A single-element focused transducer (central frequency 7.5 MHz) was used to apply a maximal pressure of ~3 MPa for 100 μs in ...
Choroidal thickness (ChT), defined as the distance between the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the choroid-sclera interface (CSI), is highly correlated with various ocular disorders like high myopia, diabetic retinopathy, and central serous chorioretinopathy. Long wavelength Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has the ability to penetrate deep to the CSI, making the measurement of the ChT possible. The ability to accurately segment the CSI and RPE is important in extracting clinical information. However, automated CSI segmentation is challenging due to the weak boundary in the lower choroid and inconsistent texture with varied blood vessels. We propose a K-means clustering based automated ...
Assessing the biomechanical properties of soft tissue provides clinically valuable information to supplement conventional structural imaging. In the previous studies, we introduced a dynamic elastography technique based on phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PhS-OCT) to characterize submillimetric structures such as skin layers or ocular tissues. Here, we propose to implement a pulse compression technique for shear wave elastography. We performed shear wave pulse compression in tissue-mimicking phantoms. Using a mechanical actuator to generate broadband frequency-modulated vibrations (1 to 5 kHz), induced displacements were detected at an equivalent frame rate of 47 kHz using a PhS-OCT. The recorded signal was digitally compressed ...
Since the days of Hippocrates, it has been recognized that tissue mechanical properties can play a key role in the diagnosis and understanding of many diseases. For example, in cancer, the stromal response associated with tumor progression often results in stiffening of tissue surrounding tumor cells. In cardiovascular disease, atherosclerotic plaque mechanics are linked to plaque rupture. Elastography—the use of medical imaging to map the mechanical properties of tissue—has been developed extensively over the past 25 years, based mainly on ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. These methods continue to develop, are available commercially, and are finding ever-growing application ...
In this work we determined the contributions of loud sound exposure (LSE) on cochlear blood flow (CoBF) in an in vivo anesthetized mouse model. A broadband noise system (20 kHz bandwidth) with an intensity of 119 dB SPL, was used for a period of one hour to produce a loud sound stimulus. Two techniques were used to study the changes in blood flow, a Doppler optical microangiography (DOMAG) system; which can measure the blood flow within individual cochlear vessels, and a laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) system; which averages the blood flow within a volume (a hemisphere of ~1.5 mm ...
The University of Washington, founded in 1861, is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest university in the Northwestern United States and the oldest public university in Washington. The UW maintains three locations, with its flagship campus in Seattle's University District and branch campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. Its operating budget for fiscal year 2005 was $3.1 billion. The university is known as a Public Ivy, an American term for state-funded institutions of higher learning that "provide[s] an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price."