Endoscopic Doppler optical coherence tomography

This project provided the theoretical and experimental basis for obtaining high-resolution blood flow imaging using optical coherence tomography (OCT). This unique project resulted in publications as well as a patent. The target patient population includes those undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy procedures for malignant and nonmalignant diseases where real-time assessment of the microcirculation is important. Dr. Yang conducted the world’s first clinical trial evaluating this technique at St. Michael’s Hospital. An extension of this research is to provide microvascular information in endoscopic procedures such as gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy and bronchoscopy, where this technology may have an impact on GI and lung cancer. Dr. Yang’s research team was the world’s first to perform endoscopic Doppler optical coherence tomography in the GI tract. Collaborative work is also underway with the B.C. Cancer Agency to test this technology during bronchoscopy. Read more about this research here.

Figure 1: OCT imaging from an in-vivo human airway. (a) Structural OCT image with DOCT overlay (B=1, M=8, N=32). (b) Split spectrum processing (B=4,M=2,N=32,FBW=60%) of the asme imaging frame. Both images have identical Doppler display thresolds. The green circle indicates a true blodo vessel confirmed by continuity between imaging frames. The red circle shows a Doppler artefact that was supressed in the split spectrump rocessed image. The color-coded CDOCT scale bar spans +/- 8.5 mm/s. Scale bar = 0.5mm.