Tuesday, August 19, 2008

OCT for cardiac and other apps

In May 2008, Dr. Patrick Serruys at the Thoraxcenter (Rotterdam, Netherlands) became the first to use Volcano's optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging catheter in a human procedure. "We believe that OCT has the potential to identify thin-cap fibro-atheromas, clearly highlight intraluminal thrombus, and assess the complete healing of novel drug-eluting stent designs," said Michel Lussier, president of Volcano Europe.

In May 2008, Dr. Patrick Serruys at the Thoraxcenter (Rotterdam, Netherlands) became the first to use Volcano's optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging catheter in a human procedure. "We believe that OCT has the potential to identify thin-cap fibro-atheromas, clearly highlight intraluminal thrombus, and assess the complete healing of novel drug-eluting stent designs,” said Michel Lussier, president of Volcano Europe.

And even more recently, Axsun Technologies, which develops and manufactures photonic components and subsystems, announced its entry into a multi-million dollar volume purchasing agreement with LightLab Imaging, maker of OCT systems. Under the multi-year exclusive deal, Axsun will provide advanced tunable lasers for LightLab's next generation cardiac OCT imaging system.

Although the first commercial application of OCT -- ophthalmology -- is expected to remain dominant through 2011 (according the report Optical Coherence Tomography -- Technology, Markets, and Applications: 2008-2012,), it’s clear that application to cardiology is making important strides. So are other applications, including dentistry. In fact, in April, Axsun made an agreement with Lantis Laser to incorporate Axsun's patented swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology into Lantis' dental imaging systems.

OCT holds promise as well for applications such as cancer detection and dermatology. We recently explored the technology and its life sciences applications in a webcast that is now available for on-demand review. If you’d like insight from doctors pioneering in this arena, check out “Practical applications of OCT,” presented by luminaries Dr. Joseph Izatt, Dr. Stephen Boppart, and Dr. Sanjay Asrani -- who fielded questions from audience members.

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