Foreword: 25 Years of Optical Coherence Tomography

Abstract

This special issue commemorates the 25th anniversary of the development of optical coherence tomography (OCT). OCT has had a transformative impact in the field of ophthalmology and vision research, contributing to fundamental understanding of disease pathogenesis, drug discovery and development, and everyday clinical decision making in all ophthalmic subspecialties. The role of OCT in research and clinical care continues to accelerate, as judged by the cumulative number of publications in scientific journals (Fig. 1). Ophthalmic applications have developed the earliest, and continue to be the primary area of research and clinical application for OCT. In the past decade, OCT has been the most commonly used ophthalmic imaging procedure by far. It is estimated that there are now ∼30 million OCT imaging procedures performed worldwide every year. The growth in many other medical specialties has also become significant in the past few years, particularly in the fields of cardiovascular imaging (i.e., coronary intravascular OCT), dermatology, and gastroenterology. Advances in OCT technology itself, as well as fundamental scientific and industrial applications, are also active areas of research. At this quarter century mark, it is appropriate to take stock of this burgeoning technology by the collection of original, review, and historical articles in this special issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.