Pulmonary nodule and vasculature detection in vivo using endoscopic Doppler optical coherence tomography and autofluorescence imaging

This work presents endoscopic Doppler optical coherence tomography and autofluorescence imaging (DOCT-AFI) of peripheral pulmonary nodules and vascular networks in vivo using a small 0.9 mm diameter fiber catheter. The wide field-of-view of AFI offers rapid and sensitive visual presentation for the detection and localization of possible pulmonary nodules and vascular networks while OCT provides detailed co-registered sub-surface structural information. This dual-modal technique has the potential to enable rapid localization of small pulmonary nodules for biopsy collection, and concurrently, enables the discrimination of nodules from large blood vessels to minimize complications.