Doppler optical coherence tomography for otology applications: From phantom simulation to in vivo experiment

In otology, visualization and vibratory analysis have been crucial to enhance the success of diagnosis and surgical operation. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been employed in otology to obtain morphological structure of tissues non-invasively, owing to the ability of measuring the entire region of tympanic membrane, which compensates the limitations of conventional methods. As a functional extension of OCT, Doppler OCT, which enables the measurement of the motion information with structural data of tissue, has been applied in otology. Over the years, Doppler OCT systems have been evolved in various forms to enhance the measuring sensitivity of phase difference. In this review, we provide representative algorithms of Doppler OCT and various applications in otology from preclinical analysis to clinical experiments and discuss future developments.