Advances in Optical Coherence Tomography and Microscopy for endoscopic applications and functional neuroimaging

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a developing medical imaging technology that generates micron resolution cross-sectional images of subsurface internal tissue structure in situ and in real time, without the need to remove and process specimens. Previous studies have suggested that OCT holds great potential for use in laparoscopic and endoscopic applications to detect early stage neoplastic pathologies. A minimally invasive imaging modality capable of identifying pre-malignant tissues in vivo could be used to guide conventional excisional biopsy and histology, thereby reducing sampling error and enabling earlier detection and treatment. One limitation of prior endoscopic OCT imaging methods is the inability to visualize cellular features characteristic of early disease states such as neoplasia. This thesis seeks to demonstrate that advances in OCT resolution and in miniaturized imaging devices will lead to enhanced visualization of pathologic changes in vivo at both the tissue architectural and cellular levels. Toward this goal, three technological advances are made. First, compact and portable laser light sources for clinical ultrahigh resolution OCT are demonstrated based on supercontinuum generation in highly nonlinear optical fibers. Second, an extension of OCT called optical coherence microscopy (OCM) is developed for in vivo cellular imaging. High speed OCM system designs are demonstrated and characterization of OCM imaging parameters is performed. Importantly, this work demonstrates that OCM can make use of broadband laser sources to image cellular features with reduced numerical aperture compared to confocal microscopy, thereby facilitating the development of small diameter endoscopic probes.

Department dc:contributor.department

Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Aguirre, Aaron Dominic, 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• James G. Fujimoto.

• Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43740

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/43740