Optical coherence tomography system for the examination of human or animal tissue or organs

An optical coherence tomography system for examining human or animal tissue or organs comprising:

• a catheter adapted for insertion into a body of a subject;
• a light source connected to the catheter that directs light, via the catheter, onto a region in the body of the subject, said catheter detecting light reflected from said body region;
• an evaluation unit supplied with said reflected light and with reference light that evaluates the reflected light and the reference light interferometrically to determine a two-dimensional cross-sectional view of said region;
• a position sensor disposed at a tip of the catheter;
• a position determining system that interacts with said position sensor to derive position data describing a current position of the position sensor in a coordinate system and to derive further position data describing a spatial distribution of a plurality of cross-sectional views of said region obtained as said catheter is moved in said body;
• said evaluation unit deriving a three-dimensional view of said region from said plurality of two-dimensional cross-sectional views using said position data and said further position data;
• and
• said evaluation unit including a cross-sectional view in the derivation of said three-dimensional view only if said position data indicate movement of said catheter has occurred by a predetermined spatial increment for obtaining that cross-sectional view.