Anatomically correct visualization of the human upper airway using a high-speed long range optical coherence tomography system with an integrated positioning sensor

Abstract

The upper airway is a complex tissue structure that is prone to collapse. Current methods for studying airway obstruction are inadequate in safety, cost, or availability, such as CT or MRI, or only provide localized qualitative information such as flexible endoscopy. Long range optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been used to visualize the human airway in vivo, however the limited imaging range has prevented full delineation of the various shapes and sizes of the lumen. We present a new long range OCT system that integrates high speed imaging with a real-time position tracker to allow for the acquisition of an accurate 3D anatomical structure in vivo. The new system can achieve an imaging range of 30 mm at a frame rate of 200 Hz. The system is capable of generating a rapid and complete visualization and quantification of the airway, which can then be used in computational simulations to determine obstruction sites.

Automatic three-dimensional segmentation of endoscopic airway OCT images

“…The data sets in our experiment were acquired by two endoscopic airway OCT imaging systems, the detailed of which could be found in Ref [15]. and [17]. Figure 6 shows the schematic diagrams of these two systems.…”

“…In these studies, since the diameter of the airway is relatively large, special techniques are employed to extend the imaging range of conventional endoscopic OCT systems. For example, removing the mirror image by active phase modulation could double the imaging range [14][15][16], or using a vertical-cavity surfaceemitting laser (VCSEL) with very long coherence length could also boost the imaging range [17,18]. As a result, the long imaging range implies that the tissue surface will have large slopes, especially when the imaging probe was not stayed in the center of the airway.…”

Upper airway reconstruction using long‐range optical coherence tomography: Effects of airway curvature on airflow resistance

“…The objective of conventional OCT is the use of penetrating light over a short range of several millimeters to obtain images of tissue components like confocal microscopy . Long‐range OCT (LR‐OCT) is the use of this technique with an emphasis on longer range capture of airway wall location to quantify size and shape of hollow organs including the upper airway and can provide real‐time cross‐sectional airway imaging during endoscopy . Our group has successfully used LR‐OCT to generate images in the upper airways of adults and pediatric patients , and developed methods to process LR‐OCT images into three‐dimensional (3D) reconstructions .…”

Automated 3D segmentation of methyl isocyanate-exposed rat trachea using an ultra-thin, fully fiber optic optical coherence endoscopic probe

“…In the respiratory system, endoscopic OCT has previously been used to quantify airway tissue structure 11 – 13 , compliance 14 , and lumen caliber 15 . Our group has previously demonstrated anatomical OCT scanning and three-dimensional reconstruction of a human upper airway in patients with obstructive sleep apnea 16 and quantified respiratory airflow using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation 17 . However, to translate our studies into the airways of rodent models requires a significantly more compact endoscopic probe than previous designs since the diameter of a typical rat trachea is about 6 times smaller than a human’s.…”