Optical Microangiography: A Label-Free 3-D Imaging Technology to Visualize and Quantify Blood Circulations Within Tissue Beds In Vivo

Optical microangiography (OMAG) is a recently developed volumetric imaging technique that is capable of producing 3-D images of dynamic blood perfusion within microcirculatory tissue beds in vivo. The imaging contrast of OMAG image is based on the intrinsic optical scattering signals backscattered by the moving blood cells in patent blood vessels, thus, it is a label-free imaging technique. In this paper, I will first discuss its recent developments that use a constant modulation frequency introduced in the spectral interferograms to achieve the blood perfusion imaging. I will then introduce its latest development that utilizes the inherent blood flow to modulate the spectral interferograms to realize the blood perfusion imaging. Finally, examples of using OMAG to delineate the dynamic blood perfusion, down to capillary level resolution, within living tissues are given, including cortical blood perfusion in the brain of small animals and blood flow within human retina and choroids.