Review of intraoperative optical coherence tomography: technology and applications [Invited]

• Published in: Biomedical optics express Vol. 8; no. 3; pp. 1607 - 1637
• Main Authors: Carrasco-Zevallos, Oscar M, Viehland, Christian, Keller, Brenton, Draelos, Mark, Kuo, Anthony N, Toth, Cynthia A, Izatt, Joseph A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Optical Society of America 01.03.2017
• Subjects: (110.4500) Optical coherence tomography; (170.0110) Imaging systems
• ISSN: 2156-7085; 2156-7085
• DOI: 10.1364/boe.8.001607

During microsurgery, imaging of the surgical field through the operating microscope limits the surgeon's depth perception and visualization of instruments and sub-surface anatomy. Surgical procedures outside microsurgery, such as breast tumor resections, may also benefit from visualization of the sub-surface tissue structures. The widespread clinical adoption of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in ophthalmology and its growing prominence in other fields, such as cancer imaging, has motivated the development of intraoperative OCT for real-time tomographic visualization of surgical interventions. This article reviews key technological developments in intraoperative OCT and their applications in human surgery. We focus on handheld OCT probes, microscope-integrated OCT systems, and OCT-guided laser treatment platforms designed for intraoperative use. Moreover, we discuss intraoperative OCT adjuncts and processing techniques currently under development to optimize the surgical feedback derivable from OCT data. Lastly, we survey salient clinical studies of intraoperative OCT for human surgery.