UC Irvine

Diagnostic imaging of the trachea can help in identifying a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic abnormalities of the trachea. Imaging diagnosis of trachea has been accomplished using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray cephalometry and computed tomography (CT). However CT and X-ray cephalometry require the use of ionizing radiation and MRI typically requires sedation of the patient to prevent motion artifacts. Long-range optical coherence tomography (OCT) has the potential to provide high-speed three-dimensional tomographic images with high resolution and without the use of ionizing radiation. Analogous to ultrasound, OCT measures backscattered light intensity using coherence interferometery to construct topographical images of complex tissue. Since OCT uses infrared light rather than acoustic waves, its spatial resolution (~10 μm) is exceptionally high. In this study, I present work on the development of a long-range OCT endoscopic probe with 1.47 mm OD and 11.5 mm working distance used in conjunction with a Swept Source/ Fourier domain OCT system to acquire structural and anatomical datasets of the rabbit trachea in vitro.