Frequency domain multiplexing for speckle reduction in optical coherence tomography

J Biomed Opt. 2012 Jul;17(7):076018. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.17.7.076018.

Abstract

Quantitative analysis of optical coherence tomography data can be strongly hampered by speckle. Here, we introduce a new method to reduce speckle, which leverages from Fourier-domain configurations and operates on individual axial scans. By subdividing the digitized spectrum into a number of distinct narrower windows, each with a different center frequency, several independent speckle patterns result. These can be averaged to yield a lower-resolution image with strongly reduced speckle. The full resolution image remains available for human interpretation; the low resolution version can be used for parametric imaging or quantitative analysis. We demonstrate this technique using intravascular optical frequency domain imaging data acquired in vivo.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Artifacts*
  • Coronary Vessels / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / methods*
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence / methods*