![]() ![]() Improving the resolution of OCT ophthalmic imaging would enable structural imaging of retinal pathology at an intraretinal level, as well as improve the accuracy of morphometric quantification. However, the resolution of current clinical ophthalmic OCT technology is significantly below what is theoretically possible. Current ophthalmic OCT systems have 10–15-μm axial resolution and provide more detailed structural information than any other non-invasive ophthalmic imaging technique 6, 7, 10, 11. To date, however, the most important clinical applications of OCT have been retinal imaging in ophthalmic diagnosis 7, 16– 22. Recently, it has been extended to a wide range of other non-transparent tissues to function as a type of optical biopsy 12– 15. OCT imaging was first demonstrated in the human retina in vitro 6 and in vivo 10, 11. High-resolution, cross-sectional images are obtained by measuring the echo time delay of reflected infrared light using a technique known as low coherence interferometry 8, 9. OCT is somewhat analogous to ultrasound imaging except that it uses light instead of sound. OCT is attractive for ophthalmic imaging because image resolutions are 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than conventional ultrasound, imaging can be performed non-invasively and in real time, and quantitative morphometric information can be obtained. Recently, optical coherence tomography (OCT) has emerged as a promising new technique for high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging 6, 7. None of these techniques, however, permits high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging of the retina in vivo. Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy enables en face fundus imaging with micron-scale transverse and approximately 300-μm axial resolution 4, 5. Confocal microscopy has been used to image the cornea with sub-micrometer transverse resolution 3. High-frequency ultrasound enables approximately 20 μm axial resolutions, but due to limited penetration, only anterior eye structures can be imaged 2. ![]() ![]() Ultrasonography is routinely used in ophthalmology, but requires physical contact with the eye and has axial resolutions of approximately 200 μm (ref. Therefore, new imaging techniques have been developed to augment conventional fundoscopy and slit-lamp biomicroscopy. In ophthalmology, the precise visualization of pathology is especially critical for the diagnosis and staging of ocular diseases. Ultrahigh-resolution OCT promises to enhance early diagnosis and objective measurement for tracking progression of ocular diseases, as well as monitoring the efficacy of therapy.Ĭurrent clinical practice emphasizes the development of techniques to diagnose disease in its early stages, when treatment is most effective and irreversible damage can be prevented or delayed. We demonstrate image processing and segmentation techniques for automatic identification and quantification of retinal morphology. This resolution enables in vivo visualization of intraretinal and intra-corneal architectural morphology that had previously only been possible with histopathology. This resolution represents a significant advance in performance over the 10–15-μm resolution currently available in ophthalmic OCT systems and, to our knowledge, is the highest resolution for in vivo ophthalmologic imaging achieved to date. Here we present new technology for optical coherence tomography (OCT) that enables ultrahigh-resolution, non-invasive in vivo ophthalmologic imaging of retinal and corneal morphology with an axial resolution of 2–3 μm. ![]()
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