Multicontrast endomyocardial imaging by single‐channel high‐resolution cross‐polarization optical coherence tomography

Abstract

A single-channel high-resolution cross-polarization (CP) optical coherence tomography (OCT) system is presented for multicontrast imaging of human myocardium in one-shot measurement. The intensity and functional contrasts, including the ratio between the cross- and co-polarization channels as well as the cumulative retardation, are reconstructed from the CP-OCT readout. By comparing the CP-OCT results with histological analysis, it is shown that the system can successfully delineate microstructures in the myocardium and differentiate the fibrotic myocardium from normal or ablated myocardium based on the functional contrasts provided by the CP-OCT system. The feasibility of using A-line profiles from the 2 orthogonal polarization channels to identify fibrotic myocardium, normal myocardium and ablated lesion is also discussed.

Characterization of the human myocardium by optical coherence tomography

“…Additionally, optical clearing or serial sectioning could be applied to improve imaging depth for ex vivo studies. Tissue properties as identified from OCT could also be correlated to clinical disease, and the identification of fibrotic regions could be improved by the use of polarization‐sensitive OCT . Automatic identification of different tissue types can also be improved, with expansion of the adipose tissue detection algorithm to other tissue types and quantification of the detection accuracy over large regions.…”

“…OCT has been used to characterize myofiber arrangement related to heart damage and remodeling in small animal models . Recently, OCT imaging of the human heart has also been explored, identifying features of the cardiac conduction system , endocardial scar, fibrosis and adipose tissue . Comprehensive OCT imaging of the human pulmonary veins has visualized collagen fibers in the venous myocardial sleeves, including varying organization among different veins .…”

Imaging of subendocardial adipose tissue and fiber orientation distributions in the human left atrium using optical coherence tomography

“…While this study focused on adipose tissue and fiber orientation, it is also possible for OCT to provide features corresponding to fibrosis, as has been described in prior OCT studies . Previously, OCT has also been used to describe myofiber orientation within animal models, ex vivo, with some studies incorporating optical clearing or serial sectioning methods to improve imaging depth.…”

“…While this study focused on adipose tissue and fiber orientation, it is also possible for OCT to provide features corresponding to fibrosis, as has been described in prior OCT studies. 8,11 Previously, OCT has also been used to describe myofiber orientation within animal models, ex vivo, [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] with some studies incorporating optical clearing 30,34 or serial sectioning 37 methods to improve imaging depth. Polarization-sensitive OCT, which provides additional contrast by measuring changes in the polarization state of light as it passes through a medium, 38 has also been used to provide additional sensitivity to fiber organization.…”

“…3,6 In addition to tracking lesion formation, however, OCT could provide valuable information on tissue architecture by high-resolution imaging of the atrial wall. Various tissue types in the human heart, including endocardial connective tissues, myocardium, adipose tissue, and fibrotic tissue have been identified with OCT. [7][8][9][10] OCT has been shown to provide detailed imaging of interstitial collagen patterns within the myocardium. 11 However, these studies focused on small regions of tissue, which provide an incomprehensive view of the utility of OCT imaging throughout a cardiac chamber.…”