Piezoelectric-transducer-based miniature catheter for ultrahigh-speed endoscopic optical coherence tomography

Biomed Opt Express. 2011 Aug 1;2(8):2438-48. doi: 10.1364/BOE.2.002438. Epub 2011 Jul 29.

Abstract

We developed a piezoelectric-transducer- (PZT) based miniature catheter with an outer diameter of 3.5 mm for ultrahigh-speed endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT). A miniaturized PZT bender actuates a fiber and the beam is scanned through a GRIN lens and micro-prism to provide high-speed, side-viewing capability. The probe optics can be pulled back over a long distance to acquire three-dimensional (3D) data sets covering a large area. Imaging is performed with 11 μm axial resolution in air (8 μm in tissue) and 20 μm transverse resolution, at 960 frames per second with a Fourier domain mode-locked laser operating at 480 kHz axial scan rate. Using a high-speed data acquisition system, endoscopic OCT imaging of the rabbit esophagus and colon in vivo and human colon specimens ex vivo is demonstrated.

Keywords: (110.2350) Fiber optics imaging; (120.3890) Medical optics instrumentation; (120.5800) Scanner; (140.3600) Three-dimensional image acquisition; (170.2150) Endoscopic imaging; (170.2680) Gastrointestinal; (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging; (170.4500) Optical coherence tomography.