ABSTRACT
Compared with an OCT microscope, used in ophthalmology and in most experimental settings, the application of OCT within the human vascular system, particularly within coronary arteries, represents a challenge, as a number of principal problems need to be overcome. Hence, the intracoronary application of OCT has developed relatively slowly, but steadily, over the last decade, and a commercially available system for clinical use (LightLab Imaging, Inc., Westford, Massachusetts, U.S.) is being approved in Europe and Japan. Today, the technology development from time-domain OCT to Fourierdomain OCT has the potential to dramatically change the research landscape allowing for a widespread clinical intracoronary application in research and patient care. This chapter discusses these technical principles of intracoronary OCT, summarizes the preclinical and clinical research, discusses potential clinical applications, and explains the practical performance of OCT in the catheterization laboratory. Differences in time-domain versus Fourier-domain OCT will be pointed out whenever relevant.
