• Transactions of the Society of Information Storage Systems
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2013

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) allows non-invasive, cross-sectional optical imaging of biological tissue with high spatial resolution and acquisition speed. In principle, it is analogous to ultrasound imaging, but uses near-infrared light instead of ultrasound, measuring the time-delay of back-scattered light from within biological tissue. Compared to ultrasound imaging, it exhibits superior spatial resolution (1~10 um) and high sensitivity. Therefore, OCT has been applied to a wide range of applications such as cellular imaging, ophthalmology and cardiology. Here, we describe a novel application of OCT technology in visualizing microneedles embedded in tissue that is developed to deliver drugs into the dermis without the injection mark in the human skin. Detailed three-dimensional structural images of microneedles and biological tissues were obtained. Examining structural modification of microneedles and tissues during insertion process would enable to evaluate performance of various types of microneedles in situ.