Endoscopic Optical Coherence Tomography for Assessing Inhalation Airway Injury: A Technical Review

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Pulmonology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Inhalation injury diagnosis is clinically challenging, relying on subjective methods like clinical exams and bronchoscopy.
• Current methods offer limited insight into tissue condition and prognostic capabilities for inhalation injuries.
• Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is emerging as a tool for direct airway assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the development of endoscopic OCT for airway imaging.
• To summarize current applications of OCT in diagnosing inhalation injury.
• To explore future directions for OCT in respiratory tract disorder assessment.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing endoscopic OCT for high-resolution imaging of airway morphology.
• Capturing subsurface tissue details (1-3 mm) and 3D anatomical structures.
• Correlating OCT findings with established methods like histology and pulmonary function tests.

Main Results:

• Endoscopic OCT provides detailed, high-resolution images of airway tissue.
• Immediate histopathological changes post-inhalation injury are detectable via OCT.
• OCT imaging shows strong correlation with histology and pulmonary function outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Endoscopic OCT is a promising technology for direct, objective assessment of inhalation injury.
• OCT enhances understanding of tissue conditions and improves prognostics compared to traditional methods.
• Further development of OCT holds potential for advancing respiratory care and injury management.