The objective quantification of photoreceptor loss in inherited retinal degenerations (IRD) is essential for measuring disease progression, and is now especially important with the growing number of clinical trials. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging technology widely used to recognize and quantify such anomalies. Here, we implement a versatile method based on a convolutional neural network to segment the regions of preserved photoreceptors in two different IRDs (choroideremia and retinitis pigmentosa) from OCT images. An excellent segmentation accuracy (~90%) was achieved for both IRDs. Due to the flexibility of this technique, it has potential to be extended to ...

Tissue segmentation of retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) is widely used in ophthalmic diagnosis. However, its performance in severe pathologic cases is still insufficient. We propose a pixel-wise segmentation method that uses the multi-contrast measurement capability of Jones matrix OCT (JM-OCT). This method is applicable to both normal and pathologic retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choroidal stroma. In this method, “features,” which are sensitive to specific tissues of interest, are synthesized by combining the multi-contrast images of JM-OCT, including attenuation coefficient, degree-of-polarization-uniformity, and OCT angiography. The tissue segmentation is done by simple thresholding of the feature. Compared with conventional segmentation ...

Multifocal Bessel beam optical coherence tomography (MBOCT) combines the advantages of Bessel beam OCT and multifocal OCT to increase imaging depth. For MBOCT, the penetration depth of the Bessel beam in highly scattering biological tissue limits the final imaging depth. In this paper, we theoretically analyze the penetration depth of the Bessel beams with different parameters to explore which kind of Bessel beam is more suitable for MBOCT in a scattering medium. The finite-difference time-domain method is used to simulate the field distribution of Bessel beams in the medium. We find that the MBOCT for more focus based on a ...

Photoreceptor ellipsoid zone (EZ) defects visible on optical coherence tomography (OCT) are important imaging biomarkers for the onset and progression of macular diseases. As such, accurate quantification of EZ defects is paramount to monitor disease progression and treatment efficacy over time. We developed and trained a novel deep learning-based method called Deep OCT Atrophy Detection (DOCTAD) to automatically segment EZ defect areas by classifying 3-dimensional A-scan clusters as normal or defective. Furthermore, we introduce a longitudinal transfer learning paradigm in which the algorithm learns from segmentation errors on images obtained at one time point to segment subsequent images with higher ...

Indocyanine green (ICG) is routinely used during surgery to stain the inner limiting membrane (ILM) and provide contrast on white light surgical microscopy. While translation of optical coherence tomography (OCT) for intraoperative imaging during ophthalmic surgery has enhanced visualization, the ILM remains difficult to distinguish from underlying retinal structures and ICG does not provide additional OCT contrast. We present photothermal OCT (PT-OCT) for high-specificity detection of ICG on retinal OCT images. We demonstrate our technique by performing an ILM peel in ex vivo eyes using low ICG concentrations and laser powers. These results establish the feasibility of PT-OCT for intraoperative ...

We demonstrate a novel hybrid-beam scanning-based quantitative optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) that provides high-speed wide dynamic range blood flow speed imaging. The hybrid-beam scanning scheme enables multiple OCTA image acquisitions with a wide range of multiple time intervals simultaneously providing wide dynamic range blood flow speed imaging independent of the blood vessel orientation, which was quantified over a speed range of 0.6 ∼ 104    mm / s 0.6∼104  mm/s through the blood flow phantom experiments. A fully automated high-speed hybrid-beam scanning-based quantitative OCTA system demonstrates visualization of blood flow speeds in various vessels from the main arteries ...

The bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) is a new generation of bioresorbable scaffold (BRS) for the treatment of coronary artery disease. A potential challenge of BVS is malapposition, which may possibly lead to late stent thrombosis. It is therefore important to conduct malapposition analysis right after stenting. Since an intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) image sequence contains thousands of BVS struts, manual analysis is labor intensive and time consuming. Computer-based automatic analysis is an alternative, but faces some difficulties due to the interference of blood artifacts and the uncertainty of the struts number, position and size. In this paper, we propose ...

Endoscopic imaging technologies, such as endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) and near-infrared fluorescence, have been used to investigate vascular and morphological changes as hallmarks of early cancer in the gastrointestinal tract. Here we developed a high-speed multimodality endoscopic OCT and fluorescence imaging system. Using this system, the architectural morphology and vasculature of the rectum wall were obtained simultaneously from a Sprague Dawley rat in vivo . This multimodality imaging strategy in a single imaging system permits the use of a single imaging probe, thereby improving prognosis by early detection and reducing costs.

Phase-based optical coherence tomography (OCT), such as OCT angiography (OCTA) and Doppler OCT, is sensitive to the confounding phase shift introduced by subject bulk motion. Traditional bulk motion compensation methods are limited by their accuracy and computing cost-effectiveness. In this Letter, to the best of our knowledge, we present a novel bulk motion compensation method for phase-based functional OCT. Bulk motion associated phase shift can be directly derived by solving its equation using a standard deviation of phase-based OCTA and Doppler OCT flow signals. This method was evaluated on rodent retinal images acquired by a prototype visible light OCT and ...

We demonstrate the utility of a novel scanning method for optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Although raster scanning is commonly used for OCTA imaging, a bidirectional approach would lessen the distortion caused by galvanometer-based scanners as sources continue to increase sweep rates. As shown, a unidirectional raster scan approach has a lower effective scanning time than bidirectional approaches; however, a strictly bidirectional approach causes contrast variation along the B-scan direction due to the non-uniform time interval between B-scans. Therefore, a stepped bidirectional approach is introduced and successfully applied to retinal imaging in normal controls and in a pathological subject with ...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an important interferometric diagnostic technique extensively applied in medical sciences. However, OCT images inevitably suffer from speckle noise, which reduces the accuracy of the diagnosis of ocular diseases. To deal with this problem, a speckle noise reduction method based on multi-linear principal component analysis (MPCA) is presented to denoise multi-frame OCT data. To well preserve local image features, nonlocal similar 3D blocks extracted from the data are first grouped using k-means++ clustering method. MPCA transform is then performed on each group and the transform coefficients are shrunk to remove speckle noise. Finally, the filtered OCT ...

Biomedical Optics Express welcomes submissions to a feature issue on "Progress in Multimodal En-Face Imaging". Multimodal optical imaging certainly enriches the amount of information that can be retrieved from biological tissue. For this purpose, many different approaches have been combined, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), microscopy, scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO), fluorescence imaging, multi-photon imaging, Raman spectroscopy, photoacoustics, and many more. This year marks 20 years from the publication of a first report on a combination of the old SLO, dating back from 1980, and of OCT, at that time a rather novel imaging technique as it was just invented in ...

Compromising the inherent trade-off between transverse resolution and depth of focus (DOF) remains a long-standing issue in optical coherence tomography (OCT). In this work, we report a novel technique—parallel multiple aperture synthesis (pMAS) to simultaneously generate multiple optical apertures in an OCT sample arm by employing a two-surface coated mirror. In the proposed pMAS, the DOF is extended by a factor of 16.49 without sacrificing the transverse resolution for proof-of-concept experiments when multiple distinctive apertures are digitally synthesized. The microparticles and tissue experiments demonstrate the feasibility of pMAS to address the fundamental problem of limited DOF in high-resolution ...

The combination of optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy (ORPAM) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) is capable of providing complementary imaging contrasts. Unfortunately, the miniaturization of ORPAM remains a major challenge in the development of a handheld dual-modality imaging microscope with OCT. Here, we report the design and evaluation of an integrated ORPAM and OCT imaging probe using a two-dimensional MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical-system)-based optical scanner. This microscope, weighting 35.4 g, has an ultracompact size of 65×30×18 mm 3 , and an effective imaging area of 2×2 mm 2 . The experimental lateral resolutions are 3.7 μm (ORPAM) and 5 ...

A highly phase stable hand-held (HH) endoscopic system has been developed for optical coherence tomography and vibrometry. Designed to transit the ear canal to the middle ear space and peer through the round window (RW), it is capable of imaging the vibratory function of the cochlear soft tissues with subnanometer scale sensitivity. A side-looking, 9 cm long rigid endoscope with a distal diameter of 1.2 mm, was able to fit within the RW niche and provide imaging access. The phase stability was achieved in part by fully integrating a Michelson interferometer into the HH device. Ex vivo imaging of ...

Measurement of sub-clinical atopic dermatitis (AD) is important for determining how long therapies should be continued after clinical clearance of visible AD lesions. An important biomarker of subclinical AD is epidermal hypertrophy, the structural measures of which often make optical coherence tomography (OCT) challenging due to the lack of a clearly delineated dermal-epidermal junction in AD patients. Alternatively, angiographic OCT measurements of vascular depth and morphology may represent a robust biomarker for quantifying the severity of clinical and sub clinical AD. To investigate this, angiographic data sets were acquired from 32 patients with a range of AD severities. Deeper vascular ...

Many Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) systems sample the interference fringes with a non-uniform wavenumber ( k ) interval, introducing a chirp to the signal that depends on the path length difference underlying each fringe. A dispersion imbalance between sample and reference arms also generates a chirp in the fringe signal which, in contrast, is independent of depth. Fringe interpolation to obtain a signal linear in k and compensate dispersion imbalance is critical to achieving bandwidth-limited axial resolution. In this work, we propose an optimization-based algorithm to perform robust and automated calibration of FD-OCT systems, recovering both the interpolation function and the ...

The pathophysiological progression of chronic diseases, including atherosclerosis and cancer, is closely related to compositional changes in biological tissues containing endogenous fluorophores such as collagen, elastin, and NADH, which exhibit strong autofluorescence under ultraviolet excitation. Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) provides robust detection of the compositional changes by measuring fluorescence lifetime, which is an inherent property of a fluorophore. In this paper, we present a dual-modality system combining a multispectral analog-mean-delay (AMD) FLIm and a high-speed swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) to simultaneously visualize the cross-sectional morphology and biochemical compositional information of a biological tissue. Experiments using standard fluorescent solutions showed ...

Imaging of the human retina with high resolution is an essential step towards improved diagnosis and treatment control. In this paper, we introduce a compact, clinically user-friendly instrument based on swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT). A key feature of the system is the realization of two different operation modes. The first operation mode is similar to conventional OCT imaging and provides large field of view (FoV) images (up to 45° × 30°) of the human retina and choroid with standard resolution. The second operation mode enables it to optically zoom into regions of interest with high transverse resolution using adaptive ...

We present a novel circumferential-scan endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) probe by using a circular array of six electrothermal microelectromechanical (MEMS) mirrors and six C-lenses. The MEMS mirrors have a 0.5 mm × 0.5 mm mirror plate and a chip size of 1.5 mm × 1.3 mm. Each MEMS mirror can scan up to 45° at a voltage of less than 12 V. Six of those mirrors have been successfully packaged to a probe head; full circumferential scans have been demonstrated. Furthermore, each scan unit is composed of a MEMS mirror and a C-lens and the six scan ...

Accurate, quantitative assessment of retinal blood oxygen saturation ( sO 2 ) may provide a useful early indicator of pathophysiology in several ocular diseases. Here, with visible-light optical coherence tomography (OCT), we demonstrate an automated spectroscopic retinal oximetry algorithm to measure the sO 2 within the retinal arteries (A- sO 2 ) and veins (V- sO 2 ) in rats by automatically detecting the vascular posterior boundary on cross-sectional structural OCT. The algorithm was validated in vitro with flow phantoms and in vivo in rats by comparing the sO 2 results, respectively, to those obtained using a blood gas analyzer and pulse oximetry. We ...