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Imaging of arterial plaque by quadrature swept-source optical coherence tomography with signal to noise ratio enhancements
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Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering·Volume 04 (2011)·Pages 755–761·Published 9 December 2011·DOI10.4236/jbise.2011.412093
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Abstract
Arterial plaque from a myocardial infarction-prone Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHLMI) rabbit is visualized and characterized using a signal to noise ratio enhanced swept-source optical coherence tomography system with a quadrature interferometer (QSS-OCT). A semiconductor optical amplifier is used in the sample arm to amplify the weak signal scattered from arterial plague. Signal to noise ratio improvement are demonstrated in our QSS-OCT system. This finding results into an increase of the penetration depth possible in OCT images, from 1 mm to 2 mm. Preliminary results show that vulnerable plaque with fibrous cap, macrophage accumulations and calcification in the arterial tissue are measurable with our QSS-OCT system.
KeywordsOptical Coherence TomographyArterial PlaqueMedical and Biological ImagingSemiconductor Optical Amplifier
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