Application of optical coherence tomography in cervical and intracranial vascular examination and interventional therapy

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging technology is a newly-developed tomography technique, which uses a combination of the optical coherence technique and laser scanning tracing confocal technology. Since it came out in 1995, OCT has been widely employed for the examinations of all organs of body as well as the examination and treatment of all kinds of tumors. As it carries higher resolution and sensitivity, OCT has commonly been called 'optical biopsy'. So far both at home and abroad there are no reports about the clinical application of OCT in cervical and intracranial vascular examination and interventional therapy. This paper aims to make a comprehensive review about clinical application of OCT, and the feasibility of using OCT in cervical and intracranial vascular examination and interventional therapy is also discussed. (authors)