Patent ID: 7376455

Claim:
A dynamic optical imaging system, comprising: a catheter having a proximal and a distal end, the distal end insertable into a living body and configured to optically image a body tissue, comprising: an elongated tubular member comprising an opening for introducing a fluid to the body tissue; and an inner core configured to slide within the elongated member; a control system, configured to rotate the inner core within the elongated member radially around a center axis and configured to translate the inner core axially along the center axis at a rate greater than or substantially equal to 6.25 millimeters per second; a light source optically coupled with the inner core and configured to generate a wide band light pulse; an interferometric optical imaging system optically coupled with the light source and the inner core and configured to split the light pulse into a tissue pulse and a reference pulse, wherein the inner core is configured to direct the tissue pulse towards the body tissue, the imaging system comprising: a mixer configured to mix a tissue pulse reflected from the body tissue with the reference pulse and output a light wave corresponding to a temporal duration of the reference pulse and a spatial profile of the reflected tissue pulse; an imager comprising a plurality of light detectors configured to detect the light wave, wherein the imager is configured to acquire images from the inner core at a frame rate of at least 520 frames per second; and a lens configured to spatially project a depth structure of the body tissue from the light wave onto the plurality of the light detectors.