OCT technology development: Where are we now? A commercial perspective

Abstract

The field of optical coherence tomography (OCT) has grown enormously since its inception in 1991 at MIT, encompassing many areas of imaging research. Improvements in the optical technology used in OCT systems, and in the design of the OCT interferometers and probes, has resulted in steadily improving image quality and more practical probe designs. Successful commercial application of OCT occurred first in retina imaging, and many further applications now appear ripe for translation from the laboratory to the marketplace. In this paper, I review this translation process from a commercial perspective, and attempt to draw helpful conclusions. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Optical coherence tomography: its role in daily dermatological practice

“…In other areas of medicine as well, such as cardiology, gastroenterology, urology, dentistry, and dermatology, there has been increasing scientifi c interest in using OCT [ 4 ] . Since it was introduced in 1997 by Welzel and colleagues [ 5 ] for use in dermatology, the technical requirements and the interpretation of fi ndings have been refi ned to a point where the technique is may be expected to become part of routine procedure.…”

Optische Kohärenztomografie (OCT) – ein neues diagnostisches Instrument in der Psychiatrie?

“…Zunächst vorgeschlagen wurden zum einen die peripapilläre Retinamessung zur ophthalmologischen Glaukomdiagnostik und zum anderen die endoskopische Beurteilung der Koronararterien. Diese beiden Anwendungsgebiete stellen nach wie vor die größten Einsatzbereiche der OCT in der Medizin dar [20]. Da die OCT die Chance bietet, Gewebe in situ und in Echtzeit ohne eine Biopsieentnahme darzustellen, und zudem eine Vergleichbarkeit mit konventionellen histologischen Schnittbildern zeigt [17,21], bieten sich zahlreiche weitere Möglichkeiten, wie zum Beispiel die begleitende Darstellung neoplastischer Veränderungen, um Stichprobenfehler bei Biopsien zu minimieren [22].…”

Optical and Opto-Acoustic Interventional Imaging

“…OCT has found diverse applications in clinical research and is widely used predominantly in ophthalmology for the screening of various diseases, 10,105,188,219 providing an useful non-contact diagnosis tool, but also in dermatology 67,77 and cardiology 6,126,156,189,216 where clinical translation is ongoing. 79 Figure 6 shows images of the human retinal micro-capillary network obtained by classical fluorescein angiography and phase-variance OCT for comparison purpose.…”