We propose a novel OCT-based method for visualizing microvasculature in 3D using reference-free processing of individual complex-valued B-scans with highly overlapped A-scans. In the lateral direction of such a B-scan, the amplitude and phase of speckles corresponding to vessel regions exhibit faster variability, and thus can be detected without comparison with other B-scans recorded in the same plane. This method combines elements of several existing OCT angiographic approaches, and exhibits: (i) enhanced robustness with respect to bulk tissue motion with frequencies up to tens of Hz; (ii) resolution of microcirculation images equal to that of structural images and (iii) possibility of quantifying the vessels in terms of their decorrelation rates.
@article{arxiv.1411.0082,
title = {Hybrid M-mode-like OCT imaging of 3D microvasculature in vivo using reference-free processing of complex-valued B-scans},
author = {Lev A. Matveev and Vladimir Yu. Zaitsev and Grigory V. Gelikonov and Alexandr L. Matveyev and Alexander A. Moiseev and Sergey Ksenofontov and Valentin M. Gelikonov and Valentin Demidov and Alex Vitkin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1411.0082},
year = {2015}
}