Analysis of microangiography images using optical coherence tomography

In this paper, we present an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) processing system to in vivo imaging of vascular remodeling of the skin. The main processing steps consist of vascular segmentation and vascular reconstruction. Firstly, image preprocessing algorithms, i. e., image enhancememt with mean filter and de-shadowing by projection-based strategies, are proposed for vascular segmentation. Then, morphological operators are employed to build a basic outline of vessels maps. Finally, the three-dimensional (3D) image of outlines is reconstructed and vessel diameter and capillary density is extracted for early diagnosis of microvascular disease. The results also show that the microcirculation maps of the skin can be generated by the proposed scheme successfully.