4D in vivo imaging of subpleural lung parenchyma by Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography

摘要

In this feasibility study we present a method for 4D imaging of healthy and injured subpleural lung tissue in a mouse model. We used triggered swept source optical coherence tomography with an A-scan frequency of 20 kHz to image murine subpleural alveoli during the ventilation cycle. The data acquisition was gated to the pulmonary airway pressure to take one B-scan in each ventilation cycle for different pressure levels. The acquired B-scans were combined offline to one C-scan for each pressure level. Due to the high acquisition rate of the used optical coherence tomography system, we are also able to perform OCT Doppler imaging of the alveolar arterioles. We demonstrated that OCT is a useful tool to investigate the alveolar dynamics in spatial dimensions and to analyze the alveolar blood flow by using Doppler OCT.