Fig. 2.

Normal appearance of RA and SV on OCT imaging. As shown in these representative cross-sectional OCT images, the optical reflectance properties of the normal RA (A) illustrate three distinct layers that correspond to the intima, media, and adventitia; however, the differentiation of vascular tissue layers is more difficult in the SV (B). The appearance of a normal valve can also be appreciated here. Although the penetration of OCT is limited to ~1 mm, its resolution is better than 20 μm and therefore ideally suited for evaluating the intimal surface of blood vessels. This unsurpassed imaging resolution yields RA intimal and medial thickness measurements via OCT (C) that compare favorably to the analysis of registered histological sections (D).