Real-time monitoring of laser-induced cavitation using Doppler OCT (Conference Presentation)

Laser-induced cavitation has been utilized for medical purposes such as lithotripsy and microsurgery. Due to growing interest in this area, techniques like passive cavitation detection (PCD) and high-speed cameras have been commonly used to monitor cavitation activities during treatments. However, PCD lacks morphological information about bubble dynamics, high-speed cameras can only be used with transparent substances. To overcome these limitations, we propose to observe the bubble dynamics and implosion-induced stress by Doppler OCT. The feasibility of this system was confirmed through experiments on vascular-mimicking phantoms, with comparisons to high-speed camera observations and PCD data. The results demonstrate that Doppler OCT effectively detects bubble dynamics and can be used to guide clinical cavitation treatments.