Optical coherence tomography in otolaryngology: Original results and review of the literature

Optical coherence tomography is a diagnostic imaging technique allowing two dimensional tomographic imaging of tissue architecture. This is a review article on the use of optical coherence tomography in Otolaryngology including original images from human laryngeal tissue and temporal bones (cochlea) in our laboratory. Tissue specimens from normal larynges were imaged with an 850 nm OCT system. Our results showed good correlation between OCT image s and the corresponding haematoxylin-eosin stained histology sections in the normal larynx. Human temporal bones were also imaged using an 1300 nm OCT system. Limited morphological details were obtained due to the high scattering properties of the bony labyrinth.