Real-time in vivo color Doppler optical coherence tomography.

Color Doppler optical coherence tomography (CDOCT) is a functional extension of optical coherence tomography (OCT) that can image flow in turbid media. We have developed a CDOCT system capable of imaging flow in real time. Doppler processing of the analog signal is accomplished in hardware in the time domain using a novel autocorrelation technique. This Doppler processing method is compatible with a high speed OCT system capable of imaging in real time. Using this system, we demonstrate cross-sectional imaging of bidirectional flow with CDOCT at four frames per second in a tissue-simulating phantom consisting of intralipid solution flowing in glass capillaries. As a demonstration of real-time imaging of blood flow in vivo we imaged pulsatible blood flow in a rat femoral artery at eight frames per second. Issues of velocity sensitivity, imaging speed, and range of velocity measurement are discussed, as well as potential applications of real-time CDOCT.