Optical coherence tomography: Technique and applications

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a noninvasive optical imaging modality providing real-time video rate images in two and three dimensions of biological tissues with micrometer resolution. OCT fills the gap between ultrasound and confocal microscopy, since it has a higher resolution than ultrasound and a higher penetration than confocal microcopy. Functional extensions are also possible, i.e., flow, birefringence or spectroscopic measurements with high spatial resolution. In ophthalmology, OCT is accepted as a clinical standard for diagnosing and monitoring the treatment of a number of retinal diseases. The potential of OCT in many other applications is currently being explored, such as in developmental biology, skin cancer diagnostics, vulnerable plaque detection in cardiology, esophageal diagnostics and a number of other applications within oncology.