Abstract

The sensitivity of swept-source Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography to sample morphology images is tested by two methods. The first method estimates the attenuation coefficients for the OCT signal that propagates through various regions of the probed tissue. The second one involves a box-counting algorithm used for calculating the fractal dimensions in the regions of interest identified within the acquired images. Although the attenuation coefficients as well as the fractal dimensions correlate very well with the anatomical features of the samples, the attenuation coefficient method provides better sensitivity. Two types of artery samples are used in this study: arterial pieces collected from atherosclerosis–prone Watanabe rabbits (WHHL-MI) and pieces of porcine coronary arteries with no overlying disease.

© 2010 Optical Society of America