Concept for high speed vocal cord imaging with swept-source optical coherence tomography

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) enables non-invasive depth-resolved investigation of laryngeal tissue. However, with conventional systems, OCT cross-sectional images of vibrating vocal cords always suffer from motion artifacts. This is the case even at low phonation frequencies of about 100 Hz. Motion artifacts of predictable repetitive movements can be avoided with carefully timed acquisitions. Irregular, non-repetitive movements, e.g. disturbed vocal cord vibration caused by laryngeal disorders, require different strategies, such as the use of high frame rates. We present a novel concept for dynamic vocal cord imaging with a high speed 1.6 MHz swept-source OCT system. Due to the high image rate, a graphics processing unit (GPU) based signal processing software has been developed in order to obtain real time OCT images. To demonstrate the feasibility of our approach on vibrating samples, we present a laboratory setup which includes a MHz swept source for OCT. To enable the transfer of our setup to clinical applications a concept for a curved rigid laryngoscope design, integrating the optical components for high-speed OCT, is proposed.