BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS OF OPTICAL LOW-COHERENCE REFLECTOMETRY

光学相干反射仪（OCDR）最初是作为一种 用于高分辨率探测来自光学元件的反射的方法 光纤系统 我们一直在探索这方面的应用 用于成像和表征生物组织的技术。 使用我们实验室制造的原型仪器， 对活体皮肤和其他组织的表面下结构进行成像。到 帮助理解对比度和分辨率的极限， 通过这种新型的显微镜， 部分相干光在致密组织中的传播 构建并在组织和组织模型上进行实验。 我们的研究结果表明，没有染色或修改组织在任何 这样，可以对皮肤组织中嵌入1 mm至2 mm的结构进行成像， 分辨率约为10 mm。

Optical-coherence reflectometry (OCDR) was first introduced as a method for high-resolution probing of reflections from components of fiber-optic systems. We have been exploring the applications of this technique to imaging and to characterization of biological tissues. Using prototype instruments built in our laboratory, we have succeeded in imaging subsurface structures in living skin and other tissues. To help understand the limits of contrast and resolution that can be attained with this new type of microscopy, mathematical models of the propagation of partially coherent light in dense tissue have been constructed and tested in experiments on tissues and tissue phantoms. Our results show that without staining or modifying a tissue in any way, structures embedded 1 mm to 2 mm in skin tissue can be imaged with a resolution of about 10 mm.