Multifunctional optical coherence tomography for endoscopic in-vivo imaging of lungs periphery in asthma patients (Conference Presentation)

We present a motorized distal scanning endoscope with an outer diameter of 1.35 mm and 52 fps rotation speed for in vivo imaging in the peripheral airways of lungs. Three lung segments of an asthma patient pre and post bronchial thermoplasty (BT) treatment were imaged. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) intensity images, attenuation coefficient (AC) images and polarization sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) images showing both birefringence, optic axis uniformity (OAxU) and optic axis (OA) orientation were extracted from the acquired data. PS-OCT endoscopy visualized airway smooth muscle layer thickness and location pre and post BT treatment as means to predict its effectiveness.