Turbulence monitoring with Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography

Abstract

The study of flow dynamics in micro vessels is highly important in rheology and cardiology to enable a better understanding of the effect of blood flow on the possible rupture of atherosclerotic plaques. Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography is able to provide a very high velocity resolution down to 10 μm s-1. The technique offers the potential to achieve a more detailed analysis of the flow/vessel interactions than current clinical practice offers; allowing simultaneously high resolution imaging of the morphology and composition of the atherosclerotic plaque and of the flow velocity vectorial field distribution along the measured cross-section. We use Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography to image high-resolution one-dimensional and multi-dimensional velocity distribution profiles of Intralipid solution flowing in complex micro-channels. A set of T- and Y-shaped phantoms were built to study the interaction of the flow dynamics with different channel geometries and to map the related velocity profiles at several inlet volume flow rates. In the current report we demonstrate the possibility of the technique for quantitative observation of the turbulence of flows arising within the complex micro-channel phantoms.

Quantification of cell-free layer thickness and cell distribution of blood by optical coherence tomography

“…Potential applications in blood monitoring also include measuring hemoglobin 7 and glucose 8 concentrations. The microflows have been extensively studied in complex vessels by Doppler OCT. [9][10][11][12][13] The spatial distribution of RBCs in microchannels has been previously evaluated with OCT. 14,15 Due to an insufficient axial resolution of the used OCT systems, the thickness of a CFL has not been measured previously.…”

Analysis of Industry-Related Flows by Optical Coherence Tomography—A Review

“…Despite its current limitations, a few studies can be found where DOCT has been applied for turbulent flow analysis-mainly for obtaining temporally averaged profiles. Bonesi et al (2007) used DOCT for monitoring turbulent velocity profiles in micro-channels. They observed, e.g.…”

Optical diagnostic test of stress conditions of aquatic organisms

“…A number of new exciting applications have been developed in biomedicine, e.g. for cancer detection and treatment [17], for blood samples analysis [18], for monitoring efficiency of laser treatment of port-wine stains [19]; in physiological studies to monitor blood-oxygen saturation [20]; in cardiovascular applications [21]; in cell biology [22]; in vascular biology for monitoring blood and lymph microflows [23]; in tissue engineering for imaging of scaffold structure [24] and studying flows in artificial vessels [25,26]; in art conservation and archaeology [27], in the food industry for screening internal defects in fresh agricultural products [28], in developmental biology for cardiovascular deceases and heart-development studies [29], and others.…”