Dresden University of Technology, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Department of Clinical Sensoring and Monitoring, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
J Biomed Opt. 2012 Jul;17(7):071302. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.17.7.071302.
One current challenge of studying human tympanic membranes (TM) with optical coherence tomography (OCT) is the implementation of optics that avoid direct contact with the inflamed tissue. At the moment, no commercial device is available. We report an optics design for contactless forward imaging endoscopic optical coherence tomography (EOCT) with a large working distance (WD) and a broad field of view (FOV) by restricting the overall diameter of the probe to be small (3.5 mm), ensuring a sufficient numerical aperture. Our system uses a gradient-index (GRIN) relay lens and a GRIN objective lens, and executes a fan-shaped optical scanning pattern. The WD and FOV can be adjusted by manually changing the distance between the triplet and the GRIN relay lens. The measured lateral resolution is ∼28 μm at a WD of 10 mm with a FOV of 10 mm. Additionally, a camera and an illumination beam path were implemented within the probe for image guidance during investigations of the TM. We demonstrated the performance of the EOCT design by 3-D imaging of a human TM ex vivo and in vivo with a k-linear spectral domain OCT system.
目前，使用光学相干断层扫描（OCT）研究人类鼓膜（TM）的一个挑战是实施避免与发炎组织直接接触的光学器件。目前，尚无商用设备。我们报告了一种用于接触式前向成像内窥镜光学相干断层扫描（EOCT）的光学设计，该设计具有大工作距离（WD）和宽视场（FOV），通过将探头的总直径限制为小（3.5 毫米），确保足够的数值孔径。我们的系统使用梯度折射率（GRIN）中继透镜和 GRIN 物镜，并执行扇形光学扫描模式。WD 和 FOV 可以通过手动改变三元件和 GRIN 中继透镜之间的距离来调整。在 WD 为 10mm、FOV 为 10mm 的情况下，测量的横向分辨率约为 28 μm。此外，还在探头内实现了相机和照明光束路径，以便在 TM 检查期间进行图像引导。我们使用 k-线性光谱域 OCT 系统对离体和体内的人 TM 进行了 3-D 成像，展示了 EOCT 设计的性能。
