Currently, no diagnostic method exists to visualize and measure the airway smooth muscle (ASM) in vivo. Endoscopic Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) has the potential to detect and quantify the ASM, by assessing tissue birefringence. We performed in vivo PS-OCT in patients (n=17) with airway diseases (asthma and interstitial lung disease) and one healthy volunteer. PS-OCT images were acquired with an in-house built distal scanning catheter (1.35mm), which allowed circumferential scan of the airways at 52 fps B-scan rate. We demonstrated PS-OCT to be a minimally invasive technique to assess ASM thickness in diseased airways relative to healthy subjects.
Removing artifacts, reducing noise, and shaping the point spread function (PSF) in Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) are critical for optimal image quality. Existing methods require frequent calibration, fail for certain background signals, or introduce various artifacts such as side-lobes for the lateral PSF. Here, we present methods for numerical optimization of FD-OCT image quality and demonstrate them for different OCT systems. Based on simulations, we also show that suitable algorithms for line-field and full-field FD-OCT can perform self-balancing, effectively eliminating relative intensity noise (RIN) and thus eliminating the need for balanced detection with a second detector or camera.
No diagnostic method is currently available to visualize and measure the airway smooth muscle (ASM) within a living patient. Endoscopic Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) might enable quantification of ASM mass in vivo, by assessing tissue birefringence. We performed in vivo PS-OCT on patients (n=17) with airway diseases (asthma and interstitial lung disease) and one healthy volunteer. An in-house built distal scanning catheter (1.35 mm) was used to circumferentially scan the airways at 52 fps B-scan rate. We demonstrated PS-OCT to be a minimally invasive technique to assess ASM thickness in diseased airways relative to healthy subjects.
Asthma is an inflammatory disease, causing thickening of the Airway Smooth Muscle (ASM). No current method exists to directly measure ASM within a living patient. Endoscopic Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) might enable quantification of ASM mass in vivo, by assessing tissue birefringence. We performed in vivo PS-OCT on severe asthma patients and healthy volunteers, with an in-house built distal scanning catheter (1.35 mm), to circumferentially scan the airways at 52 fps B-scan rate. We provided the first comparison of in vivo PS-OCT images between asthma and healthy subjects and demonstrated the ability of PS-OCT to assess ASM content.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with thickening of the airway smooth muscle (ASM).
Currently, there is no imaging modality available to assess ASM mass in vivo, other than invasive biopsies.
Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) might enable minimally invasive in vivo quantification of ASM mass, by providing birefringent tissue-specific contrast.
We performed in vivo PS-OCT in three asthma patients who underwent bronchial thermoplasty (BT), an endoscopic treatment which induces ASM reduction. We found an excellent correlation between ASM content in PS-OCT images and biopsies. Moreover, PS-OCT was able to detect a reduction in the ASM content after BT.
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