Research progress of coronary artery calcification based on optical coherence tomography

摘要

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new medical imaging technology that developed at the end of the 20th centuryafter X-ray, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). It iscalled “optical biopsy” technology with the advantages of no radiation, simple structure and high resolution that can reachten times that of IVUS. However, OCT also has the disadvantage of insufficient depth of detection that only a fewmillimeters and imaging speed. Even so, OCT can be used in combination with microscopes, medical catheters andendoscopes; therefore, it has broad application prospects in the field of biomedicine.The OCT system is simple in structure, mainly Michelson interferometer. Using the principle of optical coherence imaging,it detects the back-reflecting or scattering signals of incident light at different depths of biological tissue to obtain thesurface and subsurface imaging of transparent or opaque substances.The combination of OCT and endoscopy extends the use of OCT to the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, which iscalled intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT). It enables rapid visualization of microscopic images ofvascular cross sections and is a powerful tool for clinical detection of coronary atherosclerosis, in which coronary arterycalcification is a common problem in the clinic and is closely related to cardiovascular diseases. This review will brieflyintroduce the principle of OCT technology and its application in cardiovascular diseases, and focus on the research progressof detection of coronary artery calcification based on OCT technology.