Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is an exciting, comprehensive, perspicuous and highly recommended book that describes the theory, the instrumentation and the disparate applications of OCT. The book is a splendid example of the nexus of government funding, academic research, industrial research, clinical research, technology transfer and the development of corporate products; this combined activity highlights the ongoing success story of OCT and its multiple links to biomedical optics and serves as a paradigm for development of other inchoate optical technologies.
Most of the medical applications are in ophthalmology, followed by cardiology and gastroenterology; applications to the layered structures of the retina, cornea, blood vessels, and the esophagus. The theory and the instruments are fully described, the multitude of multicolored figures are clear, and the references are extensive, but there is no index. The book carefully describes interdisciplinary teams whose research led to advances in light sources, instrument design, and data processing, which resulted in a continuous increase in resolution, signal-to-noise ratio and image acquisition speed.
While the noninvasive nature of OCT and its speed of image acquisition are advantages over excisional biopsy, the ultimate goal of optical biopsy is still elusive and caution is required in the interpretation of images until the clinical applications are validated by other imaging modalities and or classical histology.
Review by Barry R. Masters, Fellow of AAAS, OSA and SPIE
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.