Methods and application areas of endoscopic optical coherence tomography

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Biomedical Engineering
• Optical Sciences

Background:

• Endoscopic imaging is crucial for minimally invasive diagnostics and therapeutics.
• Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) offers high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging.
• Integrating OCT with endoscopic platforms enhances visualization capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively review the current research landscape of endoscopic OCT.
• To survey existing endoscopic optical imaging techniques and OCT-based endoscopic methods.
• To evaluate the performance and application scope of various endoscopic OCT approaches.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of endoscopic optical imaging techniques.
• Detailed discussion of developed OCT-based endoscopic methods.
• Comparative analysis of scan performance across different endoscopic OCT systems.

Main Results:

• Survey of available endoscopic optical imaging techniques.
• Presentation and comparison of various OCT-based endoscopic methods.
• Examination of applications in digestive, intravascular, respiratory, urinary, and reproductive systems.

Conclusions:

• Endoscopic OCT shows significant potential across multiple medical specialties.
• Compact OCT-based endoscopes are highlighted for their impact in biopsy procedures and neurosurgery.
• Further development of endoscopic OCT promises to advance minimally invasive clinical interventions.