Ex vivo study of photothermolysis induced by laser therapy with dynamic optical coherence tomography

In this study, a swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) system and a Raman fiber laser with high laser output are used to investigate the photothermal effect on biological tissue. An optical focuser is connected to the Raman fiber laser to focus the laser power on the specific area of the tissue. To simultaneously observe the induced photothermal effect, a dynamic algorithm is used in the process to produce dynamic image of the tissue from time-series OCT images. The results show that with dynamic images, we can identify the extent and area of laser ablation with time. Moreover, after merging the dynamic image and the original OCT image, we can indicate the ablated area in the tissue apart from the surrounding area without ablation.