Together with the basic principles that lay behind the imaging method itself, this review provides a summary of the functional differences between time-domain, spectral-domain and full-field optical coherence tomography, a presentation of specific methods for processing the data acquired by these systems, an introduction to the noise sources that plague the detected signal and the progress made in optical coherence tomography catheter technology over the last decade.

Lateral imaging resolution on the order of a few micrometers is possible, to depths up to few millimeters. Similarly to what sonar does with the backdrops (acoustically), due to the. OCT uses a low coherence light beam, usually emitted by a superluminescent diode. This review paper highlights the place occupied by optical coherence tomography in relation to other imaging methods that are used in medical and life science areas such as ophthalmology, cardiology, dentistry and gastrointestinal endoscopy. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a 3-D imaging technique that can provide high resolution imaging in a scattering media, non-destructively and without the need for contact or a coupling medium. Optical Coherence Tomography is a powerful noninvasive imaging modality that performs high resolution, micron-scale, cross-sectional imaging of the retina. Optical coherence tomography is a non-destructive interferometric process allowing cross-sectional images of biological tissue to be produced with a resolution of the order of a micrometer. OCT was first introduced in 1991 1 and has found many uses. OCT utilizes a concept known as inferometry to create a cross-sectional map of the retina that is accurate to within at least 10-15 microns.

The advances made in the last two decades in interference technologies, optical instrumentation, catheter technology, optical detectors, speed of data acquisition and processing as well as light sources have facilitated the transformation of optical coherence tomography from an optical method used mainly in research laboratories into a valuable tool applied in various areas of medicine and health sciences. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive diagnostic technique that renders an in vivo cross sectional view of the retina.

Optical coherence tomography principle