Optical Imaging of Pediatric Airways
Children suffering from upper airway obstruction arising from Pierre Robin syndrome and subglottic stenosis often have difficulty breathing, and may require surgery. In these situations it is very important to have an accurate picture of the upper airway, in order to make informed decisions about how to treat the problem. In collaboration with the UNC hopsital, our laboratory is constructing an anatomical optical coherence tomography (aOCT) system for imaging the upper airways of children. In comparison to garden-variety OCT which produces images of typically a few millimeters, anatomical OCT is designed to provide tomographic maps on a larger, multiple-centimeter scale, appropriate for airway and gastrointestinal tract imaging.

Our current efforts involve the construction of an aOCT system that couples with a bronchoscope, and rolls around on a portable cart (Figure 1). We will be using a swept-source OCT system coupled with a fiber interferometer. Check back soon for more details as the system takes shape!