Diagnosis of Biological Tissue Morphology and Function with Endoscopic Optical Coherence Tomography

We present some of the recent technological advances in our MEMS-based endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) system for the enhancement of image fidelity and diagnosis. The endoscopic OCT system permits simultaneous cross-sectional OCT imaging and en face white-light visual guidance as well as fluorescence imaging guidance. The transverse and axial resolutions of the OCT scope are roughly 12 mum and 10 mum, respectively, and the axial resolution can be enhanced to 3 mum if connecting it to our recent custom sub-8 fs Ti:Al₂O₃ laser. To test the endoscopic OCT system for imaging diagnosis of early epithelial cancers, rat bladder cancer models were used and the results show over 90% sensitivity and specificity. Applications in imaging of bladder functions and engineering tissue growth are demonstrated