Optical Coherence Tomography: A Brief Review

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new imaging technique with a significant role in the field of medicine. It is a light-based non-invasive imaging method that provides high quality cross-sectional and volumetric images. OCT technology was introduced in the early 1990s and advanced to produce quicker obtaining times and higher resolution. In this article we discuss some of the recent advancements in OCT imaging systems. We will review a brief history and first operating principles including light coherence interferometry (LCI), time domain optical coherence tomography (TD-OCT) and Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) contains two types: spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT). Also we review recent emerging innovative OCT systems including Doppler OCT, polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT), high resolution optical coherence tomography (HR-OCT), full field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT), wide field optical coherence tomography (WF-OCT), optical coherence elastography (OCE), adaptive optics optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT), visible light optical coherence tomography (Vis-OCT), intraoperative optical coherence tomography (iOCT), hand-held optical coherence tomography (HH-OCT), and OCT in needle format.