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In vivo retinal imaging by optical coherence tomography

Article in Optics Letters · November 1993

DOI: 10.1364/OL.18.001864 · Source: PubMed

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1864 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 18, No. 21 / November 1, 1993

In vivo retinal imaging by optical coherence tomography

E. A. Swanson
Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 244 Wood Street, Lexington, Massachusetts 02173-9108

J. A. Izatt, M. R. Hee, and D. Huang

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

C. P. Lin, J. S. Schuman, and C. A. Puliafito

Laser Research Laboratory, New England Eye Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

J. G. Fujimoto

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Received May 27, 1993

We describe what are to our knowledge the first in vivo measurements of human retinal structure with optical
coherence tomography. These images represent the highest depth resolution in vivo retinal images to date. The
tomographic system, image-processing techniques, and examples of high-resolution tomographs and their clinical
relevance are discussed.

A number of promising new techniques have been system longitudinal scanning speed was 160 mm/s,
developed for micrometer-resolution imaging of four times higher than previously reported results.
biological microstructure based on optical coher- This increase in speed greatly facilitates measure-
ence domain reflectometry (OCDR). OCDR was ments on human subjects. Approximately 94 dB
originally demonstrated for applications in fiber- of dynamic range is obtained at a scan speed of
optic and integrated-optic structuresl- 3 and has 156 mm/s, near the quantum limit.9
recently been applied to measurements in biological In order to perform precise two-dimensional
systems, including the eye4 -7 and artery.8 '9 We have imaging of the retina, we have incorporated beam-
recently described a new technique for two- or three- steering devices and imaging optics onto a standard
dimensional coherent imaging of biological structure ophthalmic slit-lamp biomicroscope. Figure 2 shows
called optical coherence tomography' 0 (OCT). OCT a simplified optical schematic of the modified slit-
is a noninvasive, noncontact tomographic imaging lamp biomicroscope. The sample arm fiber output
technique with superior spatial resolution to ul-
trasound (<20 /um) and high sensitivity (>100-dB
dynamic range). OCT is particularly attractive in |AIMING|
ophthalmic application, where it may potentially
provide for quantitative diagnosis of a variety
of ocular diseases. We have previously obtained
OCT images in the anterior segment, crystalline i - }t
LUMINESCENT
lens, and retina of human eyes in vitro' 0 "' and in DIODE B IOMICRO-
SCOPE
vivo." In this Letter we report the development
and demonstration of what is to our knowledge the
first high-speed micrometer-resolution OCT system DETECTOR
for automated in vivo transpupillary measurements
of the human retina. LONGITUDINAL
Figure 1 shows the schematic of our system. The SCANNING
principle behind OCDR is well known and is not re-
viewed here.'- 9 The superluminescent diode source BANDPASSLJENVELOPE
ADCMPUTER
FILTER HDETECTORI
operated at -843 nm, and the signal power deliv-
ered onto the patient eye was -175 ,uW. This is Fig. 1. Schematic of high-speed OCDR system. The
in compliance with a conservative interpretation of system consists of a fiber-optic Michelson interferometer
the American National Standards Institute safe oc- with a superluminescent diode source. High scanning
ular exposure standard (ANSI Z136).'2 The FWIHM speed is achieved by use of a fast slewing reference mirror.
spectral bandwidth of the source was -30 nm, and The optical ranging signal is derived by demodulation
the longitudinal FWHM resolution was measured at of the interferometer output at the Doppler frequency.
-14 ,Am-near-transform-limited resolution.7 The A-D, analog-to-digital converter.
0146-9592/93/211864-03$6.00/0 © 1993 Optical Society of America
Plate I. Optical coherence tomograph of human retina
in the macular region in vivo. Identifiable structure
includes the vitreous region, retina, retinal nerve fiber
layer (RNFL), fovea, choriocapillaris, inner and outer
plexiform layers (IPL, OPL), photoreceptor layer (RPL),
and sclera.

Plate II. Unprocessed image corresponding to Plate I.

Plate III. In vivo optical coherence tomograph of the op-

tic nerve head taken perpendicular to the papillomacular
axis. Identifiable structures include retinal nerve fiber
layer (RNFL), choroid, and optic disk profile.
 November 1, 1993 / Vol. 18, No. 21 / OPTICS LETTERS 1865
20-mm
SAMPLE COLLIMATING GALVO at an arbitrary working distance. This is in contrast
SCANNER
ARM FIBER to scanning confocal retinal imaging systems such
as scanning laser ophthalmology and scanning laser
tomography, in which the pupil aperture and ocu-
lar aberrations limit the axial resolution to several
90-mm hundred micrometers.'3" 4
Plate I shows a cross-sectional OCT image obtained
in the macular region of a human volunteer. The
fovea (the region of highest visual acuity) is visible
as a characteristic thinning of the retina because
of the lateral displacement of the photoreceptor cell
BIOMICROSCOPE
HEAD L
t
DICHROIC\
DICHROIC
\
\ VOLK
LENS
0-D
synapses and the inner retinal neurons in the area
ILLUMINATOR BEAM IMAGE S of central vision. Laterally to the fovea, layers of
HEAD SPLITTER PLANE high and low scattering reveal the stratified cellu-
Fig. 2. Schematic of modified slit-lamp biomicroscope. lar structure of the retina. The retinal nerve fiber
The dichroic mirror combines OCT and the microscope layer (RNFL), consisting of horizontal nerve fibers, is
path. Two galvanometric beam-steering devices provide observed as a region of enhanced scattering near the
lateral scan (only one axis is shown for simplicity). The vitreo-retinal interface. Also visible are stratifica-
90-mm focusing lens, in combination with the 60-D Volk tions indicative of the inner and outer plexiform
lens, is designed so as to image the scanning pupil at the layers and a dark layer that is indicative of low scat-
patient pupil to eliminate beam shear. tering within the photoreceptor layer. The highest
scattering is visible from the choriocapillaris, which
is collimated with a 20-mm multielement collimating consists of a dense interconnected network of small
lens. The collimated superluminescent diode light blood vessels. To our knowledge, these retinal OCT
is directed onto two orthogonally mounted computer- images are the highest-resolution tomographic im-
controlled galvanometric beam-steering devices. A ages of the living retina that have ever been obtained.
dichroic beam splitter and a 90-mm focusing lens The retinal image in Plate I has been processed
focuses and directs the light into the image plane of to remove artifacts that are due to patient motion.
the slit lamp. A 60-D Volk lens, in combination with The raw data from Plate I are shown in Plate II.
the patient eye optics, relays the image plane of the Motion artifacts show up as pixel-to-pixeljaggedness
slit lamp onto the retina. The Volk lens is properly in the vitreo-retinal boundary as well as in larger-
metered to relay the pupil of the superluminescent scale variations in the retinal surface position. An
diode path (i.e., the face of the galvanometers) onto estimate of this motion is obtained with a cross-
the entrance pupil of the eye, thereby minimizing correlation technique in which the longitudinal index
vignetting. Computer control and data acquisition is chosen as the location of the peak correlation
permit arbitrary scanning patterns on the retina and. of adjacent scans. Figure 3 shows the estimated
provide a real-time image of the scan in progress motion that occurred while the image of Plate I was
on a computer monitor. A 635-nm diode laser acquired. As illustrated in Plate II, the peak index
(Fig. 1) enables the operator to pinpoint where can be filtered to retain only selected spatial fre-
measurements are made. quencies. In using this image-processing technique
Fast image acquisition time is important for high- we find that there is a trade-off between correcting
resolution in vivo measurements since it minimizes for motion artifacts and processing out real spatial
motion induced artifacts. The image acquisition variations within the structure itself. In the foveal
time is given by region, where the macula is flat, we have selected a
spatial cutoff frequency of 0 cycles/image.
Tacq
scanvdepth
scan
= E no. transverse pixels,
scan velocity
where e is an efficiencyfactor related to the duty cycle 20
of the longitudinal scanning mechanism (e - 1.125).
Subsequent tomographs were obtained with a scan
depth of 3 mm, a scan velocity of 156 min/s, and
100 transverse pixels, yielding an acquisition time tWo
9)
of -2.4 s. Subsecond acquisition times may be 0.
-20
achieved by reduction of the number of transverse
pixels and/or a further increase in the scan speed.
One important potential application of OCT is in -40
. . I . . I
noninvasive cross-sectional imaging of the retina. 40
I
60
.

Optical imaging of the retina is challenging because TransversePixel

the retina has structure on the micrometer scale, has
Fig. 3. Result of cross correlating adjacent scans to form
weak backscattering, and is located at the back of the an estimate of the motion-induced artifacts during the
eye. Since the depth resolution of OCT is governed image acquisition of Plate II. Also shown is the result of
by the coherence properties of the light source, high- spatially filtering motion to form estimates of the selective
sensitivity micrometer-resolution imaging is possible frequencies.
1866 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 18, No. 21 / November 1, 1993

Plate III is a processed cross-sectional in vivo image stitutes of Health grant RO1-GM35459-08, and
through the optic nerve head taken perpendicular by U.S. Office of Naval Research MFEL Program
to the papillomacular axis. Enhanced scattering is N00014-91-C-0084.
again visible from the RNFL, which expands to oc-
cupy nearly the entire retinal thickness as a re- References
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This research was supported in part by the 100, 807 (1982).
U.S. Department of the Air Force, by National In-

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