Compact briefcase OCT system for point-of-care imaging

A detector comprising:

• a handheld probe for directing an output of a broadband source of near-infrared radiation and a source of visible light onto a surface region, the handheld probe further comprising a visible light camera;
• an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system adapted to obtain A-scans at a plurality of randomly distributed positions in the surface region as the handheld probe is manually scanned with no lateral scanning mechanism;
• and
• a computing device having at least one processor configured to
• (i) concurrently acquire A-scans from the OCT system and visible light surface sub-images of the surface region from the camera at the plurality of randomly distributed positions, wherein each A-scan is associated with a surface sub-image acquired at the same position, and perform mosaicking of the surface sub-images to obtain a mosaicked surface image in real time;
• (ii) synchronize the obtained A-scans with the surface sub-images by making use of the mosaicked surface image and the associations between the A-scans and the surface sub-images to generate a synchronization result selected from the group consisting of three-dimensional scan images of a volume behind the surface region, a three-dimensional thickness map of the surface region, and combinations thereof.

A method for obtaining at least one of real-time three-dimensional images and a thickness map of tissue, the method comprising:

• directing output of a broadband source of near-infrared radiation and a source of visible light via a handheld probe onto a surface region of a tympanic membrane (TM) within an ear of a human;
• manually scanning the handheld probe to obtain optical coherence tomography (OCT) A-scans at a plurality of randomly distributed positions on the surface region;
• concurrently acquiring, by a visible light camera in the handheld probe, surface sub-images of the surface region of the TM at the plurality of randomly distributed positions, wherein each A-scan is associated with a surface sub-image acquired at the same position;
• mosaicking the surface sub-images to obtain a mosaicked surface image in real time;
• and
• synchronizing the obtained OCT A-scans with the surface sub-images by making use of the mosaicked surface image and the associations between the A-scans and the surface sub-images to derive a synchronization result selected from the group consisting of three-dimensional scan images of a volume behind the TM within a middle ear space a three-dimensional thickness map of the TM, and combinations thereof.

A detector for detecting at least one of a middle ear biofilm and a middle ear fluid, the detector comprising:

• a handheld source of near-infrared radiation for illuminating tissue within an ear of a human;
• a visible light camera configured to obtain visible light images at a plurality of randomly distributed positions in the tissue;
• a spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) system adapted to obtain three-dimensional scan images of the tissue at the plurality of randomly distributed positions in the tissue by making use of associations between A-scans acquired by the OCT system at one of the plurality of randomly distributed positions and the visible light images acquired at the same position;
• a median filter, comprising a square kernel and a lateral window, adapted to filter the three-dimensional scan images of the tissue;
• at least one processor adapted to segment the three-dimensional scan images of the tissue and extract a plurality of specified features of the tissue;
• and
• a classifier for identifying at least one of the middle ear biofilm and the middle ear fluid by classifying the plurality of specified features.