Abstract
Purpose: Current laser treatment for vascular disorders such as port wine stains can have incomplete or unacceptable results. A customized treatment strategy based on knowledge of the patient's blood vessel structure may effect an improved clinical outcome. Procedure: We tested the feasibility of using color Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT) and image processing techniques to locate, measure and reconstruct cutaneous blood vessels in rat and hamster skin, OCT is a recent, potentially noninvasive technique for imaging subsurface tissue structures with micrometer scale resolution. Results: Blood vessels were identified in a series of cross-sectional images, then a three-dimensional reconstruction was made. Parameters that can affect optimum laser treatment parameters, such as average blood vessel depth and luminal diameter, were found from the images. Conclusion: This study shows that color Doppler OCT is a potential tool for improving laser treatment of vascular disorders.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 355-361 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Dermatology |
Volume | 198 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1999 |
Keywords
- Doppler flow
- Image analysis
- Laser therapy
- Port wine stains
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Dermatology