OCT is a non-contact interferometric imaging modality, which allows, next to visualization, quantification of tissue optical properties, yielding desired information about structure and organization of tissue.
To date, no rigorous and standardized means for computing the precision of OCT-derived optical tissue properties has been proposed. Here, in our investigation, we develop a theoretical framework providing the lower bound for the precision of OCT-derived attenuation coefficients. Furthermore, in order to ensure clinical relevance of our framework, we derive and validate an analytical equation for this lower bound, providing a fast, rigorous and easy-to-use approach for commonly used OCT systems.
|