Catheter-Based Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography Using Similar Mueller Matrix Method.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Catheter-based polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) presents significant research challenges.
• Accurate polarization determination is crucial for effective PS-OCT imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate a novel polarization determination method, the similar Mueller matrix (SMM) method, for catheter-based PS-OCT.
• To assess the performance of the SMM method using a standard clinical catheter probe.

Main Methods:

• The SMM method utilizes polar decomposition to remove diattenuation and depolarization.
• Phase retardance is determined by constructing similarity between measured and sample Mueller matrices.
• The method was applied to a 0.9 mm outer diameter clinical catheter probe.

Main Results:

• Images processed with the SMM method exhibited superior polarization contrast for biological tissues compared to the Jones matrix-based method.
• The SMM method achieved preliminary phase retardance imaging of ex vivo porcine cardiac blood vessels.
• No averaging or phase correction was required for SMM method processing.

Conclusions:

• The SMM method offers more robust birefringence imaging of biological tissues than the Jones matrix-based method.
• It performs well under conditions of low signal-to-noise ratio, depolarization, diattenuation, and phase instability.
• The SMM method shows potential for widespread adoption in catheter-based PS-OCT systems.