UC Irvine

In this study, the efforts conducted in suppressing the effects of NURD on acquired OCT images are described. The work is divided into theoretical and experimental sections. A part of the theoretical work is focused on reconstruction of a dynamic programming method that was previously used for NURD correction and implementing it in correcting the current data. Finite element analysis of the press fitting method with ABAQUS software is another portion of the theoretical work in this study. The image post-processing algorithm was validated based on a statistical method and using sets of data from an in vivo model. It made a significant difference between images before and after correction.

Experimental work mainly focused on improving the quality of probes by making them shorter and more axially symmetric. Four different potential methods were considered during the experiments with the main focus on their feasibility and reliability. The newly developed press fitting method in manufacturing of the probes was considered to be the most promising approach because it is clean, fast, strong and repeatable.