Birefringence offers an intrinsic contrast mechanism related to the microstructure and arrangement of fibrillary tissue components. Here we present a reconstruction strategy to recover not only the scalar amount of birefringence, but also its optic axis orientation as a function of depth in tissue from measurements with catheter-based polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. A polarization symmetry constraint, intrinsic to imaging in the backscatter direction, facilitates the required compensation for wavelength-dependent transmission through the system elements, the rotating catheter, and overlying tissue layers. Applied to the intravascular imaging of coronary atherosclerosis in human patients, the optic axis affords refined interpretation of plaque architecture.

中文翻译：

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基于导管的偏振敏感光学相干断层扫描的光轴映射

双折射提供了与纤维组织成分的微观结构和排列有关的内在的对比机制。在这里，我们提出了一种重构策略，不仅可以恢复双折射的标量，还可以恢复其光轴方向与组织深度的关系，该测量是基于导管的偏振敏感光学相干断层扫描技术的测量结果。在反向散射方向上成像固有的偏振对称约束条件有利于对通过系统元件，旋转导管和上覆组织层的波长相关传输进行所需的补偿。将光轴应用于人类患者的冠状动脉粥样硬化的血管内成像后，可以很好地解释斑块结构。