Line-field confocal optical coherence tomography for three-dimensional skin imaging

Abstract

This paper reports on the latest advances in line-field confocal optical coherence tomography (LC-OCT), a recently invented imaging technology that now allows the generation of either horizontal (x× y) section images at an adjustable depth or vertical (x× z) section images at an adjustable lateral position, as well as three-dimensional images. For both two-dimensional imaging modes, images are acquired in real-time, with real-time control of the depth and lateral positions. Three-dimensional (x× y× z) images are acquired from a stack of horizontal section images. The device is in the form of a portable probe. The handle of the probe has a button and a scroll wheel allowing the user to control the imaging modes. Using a supercontinuum laser as a broadband light source and a high numerical microscope objective, an isotropic spatial resolution of ~1 mm is achieved. The field of view of the three-dimensional images is 1.2 mm × 0.5 mm × 0.5 mm (x× y× z). Images of skin tissues are presented to demonstrate the potential of the technology in dermatology.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

optical coherence tomography (OCT) / microscopy / three-dimensional imaging / dermatology

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the whole team of engineers at DAMAE Medical, especially Olivier Levecq, Hicham Azimani, Emmanuel Cohen and Romain Allemand, for their work on the technology and design of the LC-OCT prototype presented in this paper. They also thank Amyn Kassara for providing the segmentation of the three-dimensional images. They are also grateful to Anaïs Barut and David Siret as directors and managers of DAMAE Medical.

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2020 Higher Education Press