A Comparative Study on Preprocessing Techniques in Diabetic Retinopathy Retinal Images: Illumination Correction and Contrast Enhancement

PubMed Central

Rasta, Seyed Hossein; Partovi, Mahsa Eisazadeh; Seyedarabi, Hadi; Javadzadeh, Alireza

2015-01-01

To investigate the effect of preprocessing techniques including contrast enhancement and illumination correction on retinal image quality, a comparative study was carried out. We studied and implemented a few illumination correction and contrast enhancement techniques on color retinal images to find out the best technique for optimum image enhancement. To compare and choose the best illumination correction technique we analyzed the corrected red and green components of color retinal images statistically and visually. The two contrast enhancement techniques were analyzed using a vessel segmentation algorithm by calculating the sensitivity and specificity. The statistical evaluation of the illumination correction techniques were carried out by calculating the coefficients of variation. The dividing method using the median filter to estimate background illumination showed the lowest Coefficients of variations in the red component. The quotient and homomorphic filtering methods after the dividing method presented good results based on their low Coefficients of variations. The contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization increased the sensitivity of the vessel segmentation algorithm up to 5% in the same amount of accuracy. The contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization technique has a higher sensitivity than the polynomial transformation operator as a contrast enhancement technique for vessel segmentation. Three techniques including the dividing method using the median filter to estimate background, quotient based and homomorphic filtering were found as the effective illumination correction techniques based on a statistical evaluation. Applying the local contrast enhancement technique, such as CLAHE, for fundus images presented good potentials in enhancing the vasculature segmentation. PMID:25709940

Analysis of the chicken retina with an adaptive optics multiphoton microscope.

PubMed

Bueno, Juan M; Giakoumaki, Anastasia; Gualda, Emilio J; Schaeffel, Frank; Artal, Pablo

2011-06-01

The structure and organization of the chicken retina has been investigated with an adaptive optics multiphoton imaging microscope in a backward configuration. Non-stained flat-mounted retinal tissues were imaged at different depths, from the retinal nerve fiber layer to the outer segment, by detecting the intrinsic nonlinear fluorescent signal. From the stacks of images corresponding to the different retinal layers, volume renderings of the entire retina were reconstructed. The density of photoreceptors and ganglion cells layer were directly estimated from the images as a function of the retinal eccentricity. The maximum anatomical resolving power at different retinal eccentricities was also calculated. This technique could be used for a better characterization of retinal alterations during myopia development, and may be useful for visualization of retinal pathologies and intoxication during pharmacological studies.

Comparison of the depth of an optic nerve head obtained using stereo retinal images and HRT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakagawa, Toshiaki; Hayashi, Yoshinori; Hatanaka, Yuji; Aoyama, Akira; Hara, Takeshi; Kakogawa, Masakatsu; Fujita, Hiroshi; Yamamoto, Tetsuya

2007-03-01

The analysis of the optic nerve head (ONH) in the retinal fundus is important for the early detection of glaucoma. In this study, we investigate an automatic reconstruction method for producing the 3-D structure of the ONH from a stereo retinal image pair; the depth value of the ONH measured by using this method was compared with the measurement results determined from the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT). We propose a technique to obtain the depth value from the stereo image pair, which mainly consists of four steps: (1) cutout of the ONH region from the retinal images, (2) registration of the stereo pair, (3) disparity detection, and (4) depth calculation. In order to evaluate the accuracy of this technique, the shape of the depression of an eyeball phantom that had a circular dent as generated from the stereo image pair and used to model the ONH was compared with a physically measured quantity. The measurement results obtained when the eyeball phantom was used were approximately consistent. The depth of the ONH obtained using the stereo retinal images was in accordance with the results obtained using the HRT. These results indicate that the stereo retinal images could be useful for assessing the depth of the ONH for the diagnosis of glaucoma.

Probabilistic retinal vessel segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Chang-Hua; Agam, Gady

2007-03-01

Optic fundus assessment is widely used for diagnosing vascular and non-vascular pathology. Inspection of the retinal vasculature may reveal hypertension, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Due to various imaging conditions retinal images may be degraded. Consequently, the enhancement of such images and vessels in them is an important task with direct clinical applications. We propose a novel technique for vessel enhancement in retinal images that is capable of enhancing vessel junctions in addition to linear vessel segments. This is an extension of vessel filters we have previously developed for vessel enhancement in thoracic CT scans. The proposed approach is based on probabilistic models which can discern vessels and junctions. Evaluation shows the proposed filter is better than several known techniques and is comparable to the state of the art when evaluated on a standard dataset. A ridge-based vessel tracking process is applied on the enhanced image to demonstrate the effectiveness of the enhancement filter.

Robust Hidden Markov Model based intelligent blood vessel detection of fundus images.

PubMed

Hassan, Mehdi; Amin, Muhammad; Murtza, Iqbal; Khan, Asifullah; Chaudhry, Asmatullah

2017-11-01

In this paper, we consider the challenging problem of detecting retinal vessel networks. Precise detection of retinal vessel networks is vital for accurate eye disease diagnosis. Most of the blood vessel tracking techniques may not properly track vessels in presence of vessels' occlusion. Owing to problem in sensor resolution or acquisition of fundus images, it is possible that some part of vessel may occlude. In this scenario, it becomes a challenging task to accurately trace these vital vessels. For this purpose, we have proposed a new robust and intelligent retinal vessel detection technique on Hidden Markov Model. The proposed model is able to successfully track vessels in the presence of occlusion. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is evaluated on publically available standard DRIVE dataset of the fundus images. The experiments show that the proposed technique not only outperforms the other state of the art methodologies of retinal blood vessels segmentation, but it is also capable of accurate occlusion handling in retinal vessel networks. The proposed technique offers better average classification accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of 95.7%, 81.0%, 97.0%, and 90.0% respectively, which shows the usefulness of the proposed technique. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Wavelength scanning digital interference holography for high-resolution ophthalmic imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potcoava, Mariana C.; Kim, M. K.; Kay, Christine N.

2009-02-01

An improved digital interference holography (DIH) technique suitable for fundus images is proposed. This technique incorporates a dispersion compensation algorithm to compensate for the unknown axial length of the eye. Using this instrument we acquired successfully tomographic fundus images in human eye with narrow axial resolution less than 5μm. The optic nerve head together with the surrounding retinal vasculature were constructed. We were able to quantify a depth of 84μm between the retinal fiber and the retinal pigmented epithelium layers. DIH provides high resolution 3D information which could potentially aid in guiding glaucoma diagnosis and treatment.

Retinal Image Simulation of Subjective Refraction Techniques.

PubMed

Perches, Sara; Collados, M Victoria; Ares, Jorge

2016-01-01

Refraction techniques make it possible to determine the most appropriate sphero-cylindrical lens prescription to achieve the best possible visual quality. Among these techniques, subjective refraction (i.e., patient's response-guided refraction) is the most commonly used approach. In this context, this paper's main goal is to present a simulation software that implements in a virtual manner various subjective-refraction techniques--including Jackson's Cross-Cylinder test (JCC)--relying all on the observation of computer-generated retinal images. This software has also been used to evaluate visual quality when the JCC test is performed in multifocal-contact-lens wearers. The results reveal this software's usefulness to simulate the retinal image quality that a particular visual compensation provides. Moreover, it can help to gain a deeper insight and to improve existing refraction techniques and it can be used for simulated training.

Laser speckle imaging of rat retinal blood flow with hybrid temporal and spatial analysis method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Haiying; Yan, Yumei; Duong, Timothy Q.

2009-02-01

Noninvasive monitoring of blood flow in retinal circulation will reveal the progression and treatment of ocular disorders, such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. A non-invasive and direct BF measurement technique with high spatial-temporal resolution is needed for retinal imaging. Laser speckle imaging (LSI) is such a method. Currently, there are two analysis methods for LSI: spatial statistics LSI (SS-LSI) and temporal statistical LSI (TS-LSI). Comparing these two analysis methods, SS-LSI has higher signal to noise ratio (SNR) and TSLSI is less susceptible to artifacts from stationary speckle. We proposed a hybrid temporal and spatial analysis method (HTS-LSI) to measure the retinal blood flow. Gas challenge experiment was performed and images were analyzed by HTS-LSI. Results showed that HTS-LSI can not only remove the stationary speckle but also increase the SNR. Under 100% O2, retinal BF decreased by 20-30%. This was consistent with the results observed with laser Doppler technique. As retinal blood flow is a critical physiological parameter and its perturbation has been implicated in the early stages of many retinal diseases, HTS-LSI will be an efficient method in early detection of retina diseases.

Survey on diagnosis of diseases from retinal images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, Sneha; Malathy, C.

2018-04-01

Retina is a thin membranous layer of tissue that occupies at the back of the eye which provides central vision needed for daily routines. Identifying retinal diseases at the early stage is a challenging task since healthy retina is required for central vision. Several retinal diseases affect the eye such as retinal tear, retinal detachment, glaucoma, macular hole and macular degeneration etc. These maladies will encounter a secondary growth in the close future as the age of the person increases. A survey is made which tells about the diagnosis of the retinal diseases from the retinal images using machine learning techniques.

Ultra-Widefield Steering-Based Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging of the Retinal Periphery.

PubMed

Choudhry, Netan; Golding, John; Manry, Matthew W; Rao, Rajesh C

2016-06-01

To describe the spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD OCT) features of peripheral retinal findings using an ultra-widefield (UWF) steering technique to image the retinal periphery. Observational study. A total of 68 patients (68 eyes) with 19 peripheral retinal features. Spectral-domain OCT-based structural features. Nineteen peripheral retinal features, including vortex vein, congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium, pars plana, ora serrata pearl, typical cystoid degeneration (TCD), cystic retinal tuft, meridional fold, lattice and cobblestone degeneration, retinal hole, retinal tear, rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, typical degenerative senile retinoschisis, peripheral laser coagulation scars, ora tooth, cryopexy scars (retinal tear and treated retinoblastoma scar), bone spicules, white without pressure, and peripheral drusen, were identified by peripheral clinical examination. Near-infrared scanning laser ophthalmoscopy images and SD OCT of these entities were registered to UWF color photographs. Spectral-domain OCT resolved structural features of all peripheral findings. Dilated hyporeflective tubular structures within the choroid were observed in the vortex vein. Loss of retinal lamination, neural retinal attenuation, retinal pigment epithelium loss, or hypertrophy was seen in several entities, including congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium, ora serrata pearl, TCD, cystic retinal tuft, meridional fold, lattice, and cobblestone degenerations. Hyporeflective intraretinal spaces, indicating cystoid or schitic fluid, were seen in ora serrata pearl, ora tooth, TCD, cystic retinal tuft, meridional fold, retinal hole, and typical degenerative senile retinoschisis. The vitreoretinal interface, which often consisted of lamellae-like structures of the condensed cortical vitreous near or adherent to the neural retina, appeared clearly in most peripheral findings, confirming its association with many low-risk and vision-threatening pathologies, such as lattice degeneration, meridional folds, retinal breaks, and rhegmatogenous retinal detachments. Ultra-widefield steering-based SD OCT imaging of the retinal periphery is feasible with current commercially available devices and provides detailed anatomic information of the peripheral retina, including benign and pathologic entities, not previously imaged. This imaging technique may deepen our structural understanding of these entities and their potentially associated macular and systemic pathologies, and may influence decision-making in clinical practice, particularly in areas with teleretinal capabilities but poor access to retinal specialists. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the chicken retina with an adaptive optics multiphoton microscope

PubMed Central

Bueno, Juan M.; Giakoumaki, Anastasia; Gualda, Emilio J.; Schaeffel, Frank; Artal, Pablo

2011-01-01

The structure and organization of the chicken retina has been investigated with an adaptive optics multiphoton imaging microscope in a backward configuration. Non-stained flat-mounted retinal tissues were imaged at different depths, from the retinal nerve fiber layer to the outer segment, by detecting the intrinsic nonlinear fluorescent signal. From the stacks of images corresponding to the different retinal layers, volume renderings of the entire retina were reconstructed. The density of photoreceptors and ganglion cells layer were directly estimated from the images as a function of the retinal eccentricity. The maximum anatomical resolving power at different retinal eccentricities was also calculated. This technique could be used for a better characterization of retinal alterations during myopia development, and may be useful for visualization of retinal pathologies and intoxication during pharmacological studies. PMID:21698025

Retinal Image Quality Assessment for Spaceflight-Induced Vision Impairment Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vu, Amanda Cadao; Raghunandan, Sneha; Vyas, Ruchi; Radhakrishnan, Krishnan; Taibbi, Giovanni; Vizzeri, Gianmarco; Grant, Maria; Chalam, Kakarla; Parsons-Wingerter, Patricia

2015-01-01

Long-term exposure to space microgravity poses significant risks for visual impairment. Evidence suggests such vision changes are linked to cephalad fluid shifts, prompting a need to directly quantify microgravity-induced retinal vascular changes. The quality of retinal images used for such vascular remodeling analysis, however, is dependent on imaging methodology. For our exploratory study, we hypothesized that retinal images captured using fluorescein imaging methodologies would be of higher quality in comparison to images captured without fluorescein. A semi-automated image quality assessment was developed using Vessel Generation Analysis (VESGEN) software and MATLAB® image analysis toolboxes. An analysis of ten images found that the fluorescein imaging modality provided a 36% increase in overall image quality (two-tailed p=0.089) in comparison to nonfluorescein imaging techniques.

Fundus autofluorescence applications in retinal imaging

PubMed Central

Gabai, Andrea; Veritti, Daniele; Lanzetta, Paolo

2015-01-01

Fundus autofluorescence (FAF) is a relatively new imaging technique that can be used to study retinal diseases. It provides information on retinal metabolism and health. Several different pathologies can be detected. Peculiar AF alterations can help the clinician to monitor disease progression and to better understand its pathogenesis. In the present article, we review FAF principles and clinical applications. PMID:26139802

Detection of retinal nerve fiber layer defects in retinal fundus images using Gabor filtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayashi, Yoshinori; Nakagawa, Toshiaki; Hatanaka, Yuji; Aoyama, Akira; Kakogawa, Masakatsu; Hara, Takeshi; Fujita, Hiroshi; Yamamoto, Tetsuya

2007-03-01

Retinal nerve fiber layer defect (NFLD) is one of the most important findings for the diagnosis of glaucoma reported by ophthalmologists. However, such changes could be overlooked, especially in mass screenings, because ophthalmologists have limited time to search for a number of different changes for the diagnosis of various diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and glaucoma. Therefore, the use of a computer-aided detection (CAD) system can improve the results of diagnosis. In this work, a technique for the detection of NFLDs in retinal fundus images is proposed. In the preprocessing step, blood vessels are "erased" from the original retinal fundus image by using morphological filtering. The preprocessed image is then transformed into a rectangular array. NFLD regions are observed as vertical dark bands in the transformed image. Gabor filtering is then applied to enhance the vertical dark bands. False positives (FPs) are reduced by a rule-based method which uses the information of the location and the width of each candidate region. The detected regions are back-transformed into the original configuration. In this preliminary study, 71% of NFLD regions are detected with average number of FPs of 3.2 per image. In conclusion, we have developed a technique for the detection of NFLDs in retinal fundus images. Promising results have been obtained in this initial study.

Hyperspectral imaging for the detection of retinal disease

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harvey, Andrew R.; Lawlor, Joanne; McNaught, Andrew I.; Williams, John W.; Fletcher-Holmes, David W.

2002-11-01

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) shows great promise for the detection and classification of several diseases, particularly in the fields of "optical biopsy" as applied to oncology, and functional retinal imaging in ophthalmology. In this paper, we discuss the application of HSI to the detection of retinal diseases and technological solutions that address some of the fundamental difficulties of spectral imaging within the eye. HSI of the retina offers a route to non-invasively deduce biochemical and metabolic processes within the retina. For example it shows promise for the mapping of retinal blood perfusion using spectral signatures of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin. Compared with other techniques using just a few spectral measurements, it offers improved classification in the presence of spectral cross-contamination by pigments and other components within the retina. There are potential applications for this imaging technique in the investigation and treatment of the eye complications of diabetes, and other diseases involving disturbances to the retinal, or optic-nerve-head circulation. It is well known that high-performance HSI requires high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) whereas the application of any imaging technique within the eye must cope with the twin limitations of the small numerical aperture provided by the entrance pupil to the eye and the limit on the radiant power at the retina. We advocate the use of spectrally-multiplexed spectral imaging techniques (the traditional filter wheel is a traditional example). These approaches enable a flexible approach to spectral imaging, with wider spectral range, higher SNRs and lower light intensity at the retina than could be achieved using a Fourier-transform (FT) approach. We report the use of spectral imaging to provide calibrated spectral albedo images of healthy and diseased retinas and the use of this data for screening purposes. These images clearly demonstrate the ability to distinguish between oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin using spectral imaging and this shows promise for the early detection of various retinopathies.

Ultra-widefield retinal imaging through a black intraocular lens.

PubMed

Yusuf, Imran H; Fung, Timothy H M; Patel, Chetan K

2015-09-01

To evaluate the feasibility of ultra-widefield retinal imaging in patients with near infrared (IR)-transmitting black intraocular lenses (IOLs). Oxford Eye Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom. Laboratory evaluation of a diagnostic technology with interventional case report. The field of retinal imaging through a Morcher poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) black IOL was determined in a purpose-built adult schematic model eye with the HRA2 Spectralis confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope using standard imaging, Staurenghi retina lens-assisted imaging, and ultra-widefield noncontact imaging. Retinal imaging using each modality was then performed on a patient implanted with another Morcher PMMA black IOL model. Ultra-widefield noncontact imaging and lens-assisted imaging captured up to 150 degrees of field (versus 40 degrees with a standard confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope). Ultra-widefield retinal images were successfully acquired in a patient eye with a black IOL. This study has identified the first ultra-widefield retinal imaging modalities for patients with near IR-transmitting black IOLs. Should larger studies confirm this finding, noncontact ultra-widefield confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy might be considered the gold standard imaging technique for retinal surveillance in patients with near IR-transmitting black IOLs. No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned. Copyright © 2015 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A new blood vessel extraction technique using edge enhancement and object classification.

PubMed

Badsha, Shahriar; Reza, Ahmed Wasif; Tan, Kim Geok; Dimyati, Kaharudin

2013-12-01

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is increasing progressively pushing the demand of automatic extraction and classification of severity of diseases. Blood vessel extraction from the fundus image is a vital and challenging task. Therefore, this paper presents a new, computationally simple, and automatic method to extract the retinal blood vessel. The proposed method comprises several basic image processing techniques, namely edge enhancement by standard template, noise removal, thresholding, morphological operation, and object classification. The proposed method has been tested on a set of retinal images. The retinal images were collected from the DRIVE database and we have employed robust performance analysis to evaluate the accuracy. The results obtained from this study reveal that the proposed method offers an average accuracy of about 97 %, sensitivity of 99 %, specificity of 86 %, and predictive value of 98 %, which is superior to various well-known techniques.

Assessing blood vessel perfusion and vital signs through retinal imaging photoplethysmography.

PubMed

Hassan, Harnani; Jaidka, Sheila; Dwyer, Vincent M; Hu, Sijung

2018-05-01

One solution to the global challenge of increasing ocular disease is a cost-effective technique for rapid screening and assessment. Current ophthalmic imaging techniques, e.g. scanning and ocular blood flow systems, are expensive, complex to operate and utilize invasive contrast agents during assessment. The work presented here demonstrates a simple retinal imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) system with the potential to provide screening, diagnosis, monitoring and assessment that is non-invasive, painless and radiationless. Time series of individual retinal blood vessel images, captured with an eye fundus camera, are processed using standard filtering, amplitude demodulation and principle component analysis (PCA) methods to determine the values of the heart rate (HR) and respiration rate (RR), which are in compliance with simultaneously obtained measurements using commercial pulse oximetry. It also seems possible that some information on the dynamic changes in oxygen saturation levels ( SpO 2 ) in a retinal blood vessel may also be obtained. As a consequence, the retinal iPPG modality system demonstrates a potential avenue for rapid ophthalmic screening, and even early diagnosis, against ocular disease without the need for fluorescent or contrast agents.

Retinal Image Simulation of Subjective Refraction Techniques

PubMed Central

Perches, Sara; Collados, M. Victoria; Ares, Jorge

2016-01-01

Refraction techniques make it possible to determine the most appropriate sphero-cylindrical lens prescription to achieve the best possible visual quality. Among these techniques, subjective refraction (i.e., patient’s response-guided refraction) is the most commonly used approach. In this context, this paper’s main goal is to present a simulation software that implements in a virtual manner various subjective-refraction techniques—including Jackson’s Cross-Cylinder test (JCC)—relying all on the observation of computer-generated retinal images. This software has also been used to evaluate visual quality when the JCC test is performed in multifocal-contact-lens wearers. The results reveal this software’s usefulness to simulate the retinal image quality that a particular visual compensation provides. Moreover, it can help to gain a deeper insight and to improve existing refraction techniques and it can be used for simulated training. PMID:26938648

Automated radial basis function neural network based image classification system for diabetic retinopathy detection in retinal images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anitha, J.; Vijila, C. Kezi Selva; Hemanth, D. Jude

2010-02-01

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a chronic eye disease for which early detection is highly essential to avoid any fatal results. Image processing of retinal images emerge as a feasible tool for this early diagnosis. Digital image processing techniques involve image classification which is a significant technique to detect the abnormality in the eye. Various automated classification systems have been developed in the recent years but most of them lack high classification accuracy. Artificial neural networks are the widely preferred artificial intelligence technique since it yields superior results in terms of classification accuracy. In this work, Radial Basis function (RBF) neural network based bi-level classification system is proposed to differentiate abnormal DR Images and normal retinal images. The results are analyzed in terms of classification accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. A comparative analysis is performed with the results of the probabilistic classifier namely Bayesian classifier to show the superior nature of neural classifier. Experimental results show promising results for the neural classifier in terms of the performance measures.

A robust technique based on VLM and Frangi filter for retinal vessel extraction and denoising.

PubMed

Khan, Khan Bahadar; Khaliq, Amir A; Jalil, Abdul; Shahid, Muhammad

2018-01-01

The exploration of retinal vessel structure is colossally important on account of numerous diseases including stroke, Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) and coronary heart diseases, which can damage the retinal vessel structure. The retinal vascular network is very hard to be extracted due to its spreading and diminishing geometry and contrast variation in an image. The proposed technique consists of unique parallel processes for denoising and extraction of blood vessels in retinal images. In the preprocessing section, an adaptive histogram equalization enhances dissimilarity between the vessels and the background and morphological top-hat filters are employed to eliminate macula and optic disc, etc. To remove local noise, the difference of images is computed from the top-hat filtered image and the high-boost filtered image. Frangi filter is applied at multi scale for the enhancement of vessels possessing diverse widths. Segmentation is performed by using improved Otsu thresholding on the high-boost filtered image and Frangi's enhanced image, separately. In the postprocessing steps, a Vessel Location Map (VLM) is extracted by using raster to vector transformation. Postprocessing steps are employed in a novel way to reject misclassified vessel pixels. The final segmented image is obtained by using pixel-by-pixel AND operation between VLM and Frangi output image. The method has been rigorously analyzed on the STARE, DRIVE and HRF datasets.

A Morphological Hessian Based Approach for Retinal Blood Vessels Segmentation and Denoising Using Region Based Otsu Thresholding

PubMed Central

BahadarKhan, Khan; A Khaliq, Amir; Shahid, Muhammad

2016-01-01

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) harm retinal blood vessels in the eye causing visual deficiency. The appearance and structure of blood vessels in retinal images play an essential part in the diagnoses of an eye sicknesses. We proposed a less computational unsupervised automated technique with promising results for detection of retinal vasculature by using morphological hessian based approach and region based Otsu thresholding. Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) and morphological filters have been used for enhancement and to remove low frequency noise or geometrical objects, respectively. The hessian matrix and eigenvalues approach used has been in a modified form at two different scales to extract wide and thin vessel enhanced images separately. Otsu thresholding has been further applied in a novel way to classify vessel and non-vessel pixels from both enhanced images. Finally, postprocessing steps has been used to eliminate the unwanted region/segment, non-vessel pixels, disease abnormalities and noise, to obtain a final segmented image. The proposed technique has been analyzed on the openly accessible DRIVE (Digital Retinal Images for Vessel Extraction) and STARE (STructured Analysis of the REtina) databases along with the ground truth data that has been precisely marked by the experts. PMID:27441646

A novel method for segmentation of Infrared Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (IR-SLO) images of retina.

PubMed

Ajaz, Aqsa; Aliahmad, Behzad; Kumar, Dinesh K

2017-07-01

Retinal vessel segmentation forms an essential element of automatic retinal disease screening systems. The development of multimodal imaging system with IR-SLO and OCT could help in studying the early stages of retinal disease. The advantages of IR-SLO to examine the alterations in the structure of retina and direct correlation with OCT can be useful for assessment of various diseases. This paper presents an automatic method for segmentation of IR-SLO fundus images based on the combination of morphological filters and image enhancement techniques. As a first step, the retinal vessels are contrasted using morphological filters followed by background exclusion using Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) and Bilateral filtering. The final segmentation is obtained by using Isodata technique. Our approach was tested on a set of 26 IR-SLO images and results were compared to two set of gold standard images. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated in terms of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. The system has an average accuracy of 0.90 for both the sets.

Portable, low-priced retinal imager for eye disease screening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soliz, Peter; Nemeth, Sheila; VanNess, Richard; Barriga, E. S.; Zamora, Gilberto

2014-02-01

The objective of this project was to develop and demonstrate a portable, low-priced, easy to use non-mydriatic retinal camera for eye disease screening in underserved urban and rural locations. Existing portable retinal imagers do not meet the requirements of a low-cost camera with sufficient technical capabilities (field of view, image quality, portability, battery power, and ease-of-use) to be distributed widely to low volume clinics, such as the offices of single primary care physicians serving rural communities or other economically stressed healthcare facilities. Our approach for Smart i-Rx is based primarily on a significant departure from current generations of desktop and hand-held commercial retinal cameras as well as those under development. Our techniques include: 1) Exclusive use of off-the-shelf components; 2) Integration of retinal imaging device into low-cost, high utility camera mount and chin rest; 3) Unique optical and illumination designed for small form factor; and 4) Exploitation of autofocus technology built into present digital SLR recreational cameras; and 5) Integration of a polarization technique to avoid the corneal reflex. In a prospective study, 41 out of 44 diabetics were imaged successfully. No imaging was attempted on three of the subjects due to noticeably small pupils (less than 2mm). The images were of sufficient quality to detect abnormalities related to diabetic retinopathy, such as microaneurysms and exudates. These images were compared with ones taken non-mydriatically with a Canon CR-1 Mark II camera. No cases identified as having DR by expert retinal graders were missed in the Smart i-Rx images.

Computer-based detection of diabetes retinopathy stages using digital fundus images.

PubMed

Acharya, U R; Lim, C M; Ng, E Y K; Chee, C; Tamura, T

2009-07-01

Diabetes mellitus is a heterogeneous clinical syndrome characterized by hyperglycaemia and the long-term complications are retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy, and cardiomyopathy. It is a leading cause of blindness. Diabetic retinopathy is the progressive pathological alterations in the retinal microvasculature, leading to areas of retinal nonperfusion, increased vascular permeability, and the pathological proliferation of retinal vessels. Hence, it is beneficial to have regular cost-effective eye screening for diabetes subjects. Nowadays, different stages of diabetes retinopathy are detected by retinal examination using indirect biomicroscopy by senior ophthalmologists. In this work, morphological image processing and support vector machine (SVM) techniques were used for the automatic diagnosis of eye health. In this study, 331 fundus images were analysed. Five groups were identified: normal retina, mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, moderate non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Four salient features blood vessels, microaneurysms, exudates, and haemorrhages were extracted from the raw images using image-processing techniques and fed to the SVM for classification. A sensitivity of more than 82 per cent and specificity of 86 per cent was demonstrated for the system developed.

Fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy.

PubMed

Dysli, Chantal; Wolf, Sebastian; Berezin, Mikhail Y; Sauer, Lydia; Hammer, Martin; Zinkernagel, Martin S

2017-09-01

Imaging techniques based on retinal autofluorescence have found broad applications in ophthalmology because they are extremely sensitive and noninvasive. Conventional fundus autofluorescence imaging measures fluorescence intensity of endogenous retinal fluorophores. It mainly derives its signal from lipofuscin at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium. Fundus autofluorescence, however, can not only be characterized by the spatial distribution of the fluorescence intensity or emission spectrum, but also by a characteristic fluorescence lifetime function. The fluorescence lifetime is the average amount of time a fluorophore remains in the excited state following excitation. Fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (FLIO) is an emerging imaging modality for in vivo measurement of lifetimes of endogenous retinal fluorophores. Recent reports in this field have contributed to our understanding of the pathophysiology of various macular and retinal diseases. Within this review, the basic concept of fluorescence lifetime imaging is provided. It includes technical background information and correlation with in vitro measurements of individual retinal metabolites. In a second part, clinical applications of fluorescence lifetime imaging and fluorescence lifetime features of selected retinal diseases such as Stargardt disease, age-related macular degeneration, choroideremia, central serous chorioretinopathy, macular holes, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal artery occlusion are discussed. Potential areas of use for fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy will be outlined at the end of this review. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Scattering angle resolved optical coherence tomography for in vivo murine retinal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardner, Michael R.; Katta, Nitesh; McElroy, Austin; Baruah, Vikram; Rylander, H. G.; Milner, Thomas E.

2017-02-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal imaging contributes to understanding central nervous system (CNS) diseases because the eye is an anatomical "window to the brain" with direct optical access to nonmylenated retinal ganglion cells. However, many CNS diseases are associated with neuronal changes beyond the resolution of standard OCT retinal imaging systems. Though studies have shown the utility of scattering angle resolved (SAR) OCT for particle sizing and detecting disease states ex vivo, a compact SAR-OCT system for in vivo rodent retinal imaging has not previously been reported. We report a fiber-based SAR-OCT system (swept source at 1310 nm +/- 65 nm, 100 kHz scan rate) for mouse retinal imaging with a partial glass window (center aperture) for angular discrimination of backscattered light. This design incorporates a dual-axis MEMS mirror conjugate to the ocular pupil plane and a high collection efficiency objective. A muring retina is imaged during euthanasia, and the proposed SAR-index is examined versus time. Results show a positive correlation between the SAR-index and the sub-cellular hypoxic response of neurons to isoflurane overdose during euthanasia. The proposed SAR-OCT design and image process technique offer a contrast mechanism able to detect sub-resolution neuronal changes for murine retinal imaging.

Active learning approach for detection of hard exudates, cotton wool spots, and drusen in retinal images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez, Clara I.; Niemeijer, Meindert; Kockelkorn, Thessa; Abràmoff, Michael D.; van Ginneken, Bram

2009-02-01

Computer-aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems for the automatic identification of abnormalities in retinal images are gaining importance in diabetic retinopathy screening programs. A huge amount of retinal images are collected during these programs and they provide a starting point for the design of machine learning algorithms. However, manual annotations of retinal images are scarce and expensive to obtain. This paper proposes a dynamic CAD system based on active learning for the automatic identification of hard exudates, cotton wool spots and drusen in retinal images. An uncertainty sampling method is applied to select samples that need to be labeled by an expert from an unlabeled set of 4000 retinal images. It reduces the number of training samples needed to obtain an optimum accuracy by dynamically selecting the most informative samples. Results show that the proposed method increases the classification accuracy compared to alternative techniques, achieving an area under the ROC curve of 0.87, 0.82 and 0.78 for the detection of hard exudates, cotton wool spots and drusen, respectively.

Retinal blood vessel segmentation using fully convolutional network with transfer learning.

PubMed

Jiang, Zhexin; Zhang, Hao; Wang, Yi; Ko, Seok-Bum

2018-04-26

Since the retinal blood vessel has been acknowledged as an indispensable element in both ophthalmological and cardiovascular disease diagnosis, the accurate segmentation of the retinal vessel tree has become the prerequisite step for automated or computer-aided diagnosis systems. In this paper, a supervised method is presented based on a pre-trained fully convolutional network through transfer learning. This proposed method has simplified the typical retinal vessel segmentation problem from full-size image segmentation to regional vessel element recognition and result merging. Meanwhile, additional unsupervised image post-processing techniques are applied to this proposed method so as to refine the final result. Extensive experiments have been conducted on DRIVE, STARE, CHASE_DB1 and HRF databases, and the accuracy of the cross-database test on these four databases is state-of-the-art, which also presents the high robustness of the proposed approach. This successful result has not only contributed to the area of automated retinal blood vessel segmentation but also supports the effectiveness of transfer learning when applying deep learning technique to medical imaging. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrated photoacoustic microscopy, optical coherence tomography, and fluorescence microscopy for multimodal chorioretinal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Chao; Zhang, Wei; Nguyen, Van Phuc; Huang, Ziyi; Wang, Xueding; Paulus, Yannis M.

2018-02-01

Current clinical available retinal imaging techniques have limitations, including limited depth of penetration or requirement for the invasive injection of exogenous contrast agents. Here, we developed a novel multimodal imaging system for high-speed, high-resolution retinal imaging of larger animals, such as rabbits. The system integrates three state-of-the-art imaging modalities, including photoacoustic microscopy (PAM), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fluorescence microscopy (FM). In vivo experimental results of rabbit eyes show that the PAM is able to visualize laser-induced retinal burns and distinguish individual eye blood vessels using a laser exposure dose of 80 nJ, which is well below the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) safety limit 160 nJ. The OCT can discern different retinal layers and visualize laser burns and choroidal detachments. The novel multi-modal imaging platform holds great promise in ophthalmic imaging.

Real-time blind deconvolution of retinal images in adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hao; Lu, Jing; Shi, Guohua; Zhang, Yudong

2011-06-01

With the use of adaptive optics (AO), the ocular aberrations can be compensated to get high-resolution image of living human retina. However, the wavefront correction is not perfect due to the wavefront measure error and hardware restrictions. Thus, it is necessary to use a deconvolution algorithm to recover the retinal images. In this paper, a blind deconvolution technique called Incremental Wiener filter is used to restore the adaptive optics confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) images. The point-spread function (PSF) measured by wavefront sensor is only used as an initial value of our algorithm. We also realize the Incremental Wiener filter on graphics processing unit (GPU) in real-time. When the image size is 512 × 480 pixels, six iterations of our algorithm only spend about 10 ms. Retinal blood vessels as well as cells in retinal images are restored by our algorithm, and the PSFs are also revised. Retinal images with and without adaptive optics are both restored. The results show that Incremental Wiener filter reduces the noises and improve the image quality.

Small Animal Retinal Imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, WooJhon; Drexler, Wolfgang; Fujimoto, James G.

Developing and validating new techniques and methods for small animal imaging is an important research area because there are many small animal models of retinal diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucoma [1-6]. Because the retina is a multilayered structure with distinct abnormalities occurring in different intraretinal layers at different stages of disease progression, there is a need for imaging techniques that enable visualization of these layers individually at different time points. Although postmortem histology and ultrastructural analysis can be performed for investigating microscopic changes in the retina in small animal models, this requires sacrificing animals, which makes repeated assessment of the same animal at different time points impossible and increases the number of animals required. Furthermore, some retinal processes such as neurovascular coupling cannot be fully characterized postmortem.

Landmark matching based retinal image alignment by enforcing sparsity in correspondence matrix.

PubMed

Zheng, Yuanjie; Daniel, Ebenezer; Hunter, Allan A; Xiao, Rui; Gao, Jianbin; Li, Hongsheng; Maguire, Maureen G; Brainard, David H; Gee, James C

2014-08-01

Retinal image alignment is fundamental to many applications in diagnosis of eye diseases. In this paper, we address the problem of landmark matching based retinal image alignment. We propose a novel landmark matching formulation by enforcing sparsity in the correspondence matrix and offer its solutions based on linear programming. The proposed formulation not only enables a joint estimation of the landmark correspondences and a predefined transformation model but also combines the benefits of the softassign strategy (Chui and Rangarajan, 2003) and the combinatorial optimization of linear programming. We also introduced a set of reinforced self-similarities descriptors which can better characterize local photometric and geometric properties of the retinal image. Theoretical analysis and experimental results with both fundus color images and angiogram images show the superior performances of our algorithms to several state-of-the-art techniques. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated detection of the retinal from OCT spectral domain images of healthy eyes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giovinco, Gaspare; Savastano, Maria Cristina; Ventre, Salvatore; Tamburrino, Antonello

2015-06-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has become one of the most relevant diagnostic tools for retinal diseases. Besides being a non-invasive technique, one distinguished feature is its unique capability of providing (in vivo) cross-sectional view of the retinal. Specifically, OCT images show the retinal layers. From the clinical point of view, the identification of the retinal layers opens new perspectives to study the correlation between morphological and functional aspects of the retinal tissue. The main contribution of this paper is a new method/algorithm for the automated segmentation of cross-sectional images of the retina of healthy eyes, obtained by means of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Specifically, the proposed segmentation algorithm provides the automated detection of different retinal layers. Tests on experimental SD-OCT scans performed by three different instruments/manufacturers have been successfully carried out and compared to a manual segmentation made by an independent ophthalmologist, showing the generality and the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Brightness-preserving fuzzy contrast enhancement scheme for the detection and classification of diabetic retinopathy disease.

PubMed

Datta, Niladri Sekhar; Dutta, Himadri Sekhar; Majumder, Koushik

2016-01-01

The contrast enhancement of retinal image plays a vital role for the detection of microaneurysms (MAs), which are an early sign of diabetic retinopathy disease. A retinal image contrast enhancement method has been presented to improve the MA detection technique. The success rate on low-contrast noisy retinal image analysis shows the importance of the proposed method. Overall, 587 retinal input images are tested for performance analysis. The average sensitivity and specificity are obtained as 95.94% and 99.21%, respectively. The area under curve is found as 0.932 for the receiver operating characteristics analysis. The classifications of diabetic retinopathy disease are also performed here. The experimental results show that the overall MA detection method performs better than the current state-of-the-art MA detection algorithms.

High quality optical microangiography of ocular microcirculation and measurement of total retinal blood flow in mouse eye

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhi, Zhongwei; Yin, Xin; Dziennis, Suzan; Alpers, Charles E.; Wang, Ruikang K.

2013-03-01

Visualization and measurement of retinal blood flow (RBF) is important to the diagnosis and management of different eye diseases, including diabetic retinopathy. Optical microangiography (OMAG) is developed for generating 3D dynamic microcirculation image and later refined into ultra-high sensitive OMAG (UHS-OMAG) for true capillary vessels imaging. Here, we present the application of OMAG imaging technique for visualization of depth-resolved vascular network within retina and choroid as well as measurement of total retinal blood flow in mice. A fast speed spectral domain OCT imaging system at 820nm with a line scan rate of 140 kHz was developed to image mouse posterior eye. By applying UHS-OMAG scanning protocol and processing algorithm, we achieved true capillary level imaging of retina and choroid vasculature in mouse eye. The vascular pattern within different retinal layers and choroid was presented. An en face Doppler OCT approach [1] without knowing Doppler angle was adopted for the measurement of total retinal blood flow. The axial blood flow velocity is measured in an en face plane by raster scanning and the flow is calculated by integrating over the vessel area of the central retinal artery.

Novel method for edge detection of retinal vessels based on the model of the retinal vascular network and mathematical morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Lei; Zheng, Xiaoxiang; Zhang, Hengyi; Yu, Yajun

1998-09-01

Accurate edge detection of retinal vessels is a prerequisite for quantitative analysis of subtle morphological changes of retinal vessels under different pathological conditions. A novel method for edge detection of retinal vessels is presented in this paper. Methods: (1) Wavelet-based image preprocessing. (2) The signed edge detection algorithm and mathematical morphological operation are applied to get the approximate regions that contain retinal vessels. (3) By convolving the preprocessed image with a LoG operator only on the detected approximate regions of retinal vessels, followed by edges refining, clear edge maps of the retinal vessels are fast obtained. Results: A detailed performance evaluation together with the existing techniques is given to demonstrate the strong features of our method. Conclusions: True edge locations of retinal vessels can be fast detected with continuous structures of retinal vessels, less non- vessel segments left and insensitivity to noise. The method is also suitable for other application fields such as road edge detection.

The fundus photo has met its match: optical coherence tomography and adaptive optics ophthalmoscopy are here to stay

PubMed Central

Morgan, Jessica I. W.

2016-01-01

Purpose Over the past 25 years, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and adaptive optics (AO) ophthalmoscopy have revolutionised our ability to non-invasively observe the living retina. The purpose of this review is to highlight the techniques and human clinical applications of recent advances in OCT and adaptive optics scanning laser/light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) ophthalmic imaging. Recent findings Optical coherence tomography retinal and optic nerve head (ONH) imaging technology allows high resolution in the axial direction resulting in cross-sectional visualisation of retinal and ONH lamination. Complementary AO ophthalmoscopy gives high resolution in the transverse direction resulting in en face visualisation of retinal cell mosaics. Innovative detection schemes applied to OCT and AOSLO technologies (such as spectral domain OCT, OCT angiography, confocal and non-confocal AOSLO, fluorescence, and AO-OCT) have enabled high contrast between retinal and ONH structures in three dimensions and have allowed in vivo retinal imaging to approach that of histological quality. In addition, both OCT and AOSLO have shown the capability to detect retinal reflectance changes in response to visual stimuli, paving the way for future studies to investigate objective biomarkers of visual function at the cellular level. Increasingly, these imaging techniques are being applied to clinical studies of the normal and diseased visual system. Summary Optical coherence tomography and AOSLO technologies are capable of elucidating the structure and function of the retina and ONH noninvasively with unprecedented resolution and contrast. The techniques have proven their worth in both basic science and clinical applications and each will continue to be utilised in future studies for many years to come. PMID:27112222

The fundus photo has met its match: optical coherence tomography and adaptive optics ophthalmoscopy are here to stay.

PubMed

Morgan, Jessica I W

2016-05-01

Over the past 25 years, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and adaptive optics (AO) ophthalmoscopy have revolutionised our ability to non-invasively observe the living retina. The purpose of this review is to highlight the techniques and human clinical applications of recent advances in OCT and adaptive optics scanning laser/light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) ophthalmic imaging. Optical coherence tomography retinal and optic nerve head (ONH) imaging technology allows high resolution in the axial direction resulting in cross-sectional visualisation of retinal and ONH lamination. Complementary AO ophthalmoscopy gives high resolution in the transverse direction resulting in en face visualisation of retinal cell mosaics. Innovative detection schemes applied to OCT and AOSLO technologies (such as spectral domain OCT, OCT angiography, confocal and non-confocal AOSLO, fluorescence, and AO-OCT) have enabled high contrast between retinal and ONH structures in three dimensions and have allowed in vivo retinal imaging to approach that of histological quality. In addition, both OCT and AOSLO have shown the capability to detect retinal reflectance changes in response to visual stimuli, paving the way for future studies to investigate objective biomarkers of visual function at the cellular level. Increasingly, these imaging techniques are being applied to clinical studies of the normal and diseased visual system. Optical coherence tomography and AOSLO technologies are capable of elucidating the structure and function of the retina and ONH noninvasively with unprecedented resolution and contrast. The techniques have proven their worth in both basic science and clinical applications and each will continue to be utilised in future studies for many years to come. © 2016 The Authors Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2016 The College of Optometrists.

Large-field-of-view, modular, stabilized, adaptive-optics-based scanning laser ophthalmoscope.

PubMed

Burns, Stephen A; Tumbar, Remy; Elsner, Ann E; Ferguson, Daniel; Hammer, Daniel X

2007-05-01

We describe the design and performance of an adaptive optics retinal imager that is optimized for use during dynamic correction for eye movements. The system incorporates a retinal tracker and stabilizer, a wide-field line scan scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO), and a high-resolution microelectromechanical-systems-based adaptive optics SLO. The detection system incorporates selection and positioning of confocal apertures, allowing measurement of images arising from different portions of the double pass retinal point-spread function (psf). System performance was excellent. The adaptive optics increased the brightness and contrast for small confocal apertures by more than 2x and decreased the brightness of images obtained with displaced apertures, confirming the ability of the adaptive optics system to improve the psf. The retinal image was stabilized to within 18 microm 90% of the time. Stabilization was sufficient for cross-correlation techniques to automatically align the images.

Large Field of View, Modular, Stabilized, Adaptive-Optics-Based Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope

PubMed Central

Burns, Stephen A.; Tumbar, Remy; Elsner, Ann E.; Ferguson, Daniel; Hammer, Daniel X.

2007-01-01

We describe the design and performance of an adaptive optics retinal imager that is optimized for use during dynamic correction for eye movements. The system incorporates a retinal tracker and stabilizer, a wide field line scan Scanning Laser Ophthalmocsope (SLO), and a high resolution MEMS based adaptive optics SLO. The detection system incorporates selection and positioning of confocal apertures, allowing measurement of images arising from different portions of the double pass retinal point spread function (psf). System performance was excellent. The adaptive optics increased the brightness and contrast for small confocal apertures by more than 2x, and decreased the brightness of images obtained with displaced apertures, confirming the ability of the adaptive optics system to improve the pointspread function. The retinal image was stabilized to within 18 microns 90% of the time. Stabilization was sufficient for cross-correlation techniques to automatically align the images. PMID:17429477

Computer-aided diagnosis of retinopathy in retinal fundus images of preterm infants via quantification of vascular tortuosity

PubMed Central

Oloumi, Faraz; Rangayyan, Rangaraj M.; Ells, Anna L.

2016-01-01

Abstract. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a disorder of the retina occurring in preterm infants, is the leading cause of preventable childhood blindness. An active phase of ROP that requires treatment is associated with the presence of plus disease, which is diagnosed clinically in a qualitative manner by visual assessment of the existence of a certain level of increase in the thickness and tortuosity of retinal vessels. The present study performs computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) of plus disease via quantitative measurement of tortuosity in retinal fundus images of preterm infants. Digital image processing techniques were developed for the detection of retinal vessels and measurement of their tortuosity. The total lengths of abnormally tortuous vessels in each quadrant and the entire image were then computed. A minimum-length diagnostic-decision-making criterion was developed to assess the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the values obtained. The area (Az) under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to assess the overall diagnostic accuracy of the methods. Using a set of 19 retinal fundus images of preterm infants with plus disease and 91 without plus disease, the proposed methods provided an overall diagnostic accuracy of Az=0.98. Using the total length of all abnormally tortuous vessel segments in an image, our techniques are capable of CAD of plus disease with high accuracy without the need for manual selection of vessels to analyze. The proposed methods may be used in a clinical or teleophthalmological setting. PMID:28018938

Simultaneous optical coherence tomography and lipofuscin autofluorescence imaging of the retina with a single broadband light source at 480nm.

PubMed

Jiang, Minshan; Liu, Tan; Liu, Xiaojing; Jiao, Shuliang

2014-12-01

We accomplished spectral domain optical coherence tomography and auto-fluorescence microscopy for imaging the retina with a single broadband light source centered at 480 nm. This technique is able to provide simultaneous structural imaging and lipofuscin molecular contrast of the retina. Since the two imaging modalities are provided by the same group of photons, their images are intrinsically registered. To test the capabilities of the technique we periodically imaged the retinas of the same rats for four weeks. The images successfully demonstrated lipofuscin accumulation in the retinal pigment epithelium with aging. The experimental results showed that the dual-modal imaging system can be a potentially powerful tool in the study of age-related degenerative retinal diseases.

Automated detection of retinal layers from OCT spectral-domain images of healthy eyes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giovinco, Gaspare; Savastano, Maria Cristina; Ventre, Salvatore; Tamburrino, Antonello

2015-12-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has become one of the most relevant diagnostic tools for retinal diseases. Besides being a non-invasive technique, one distinguished feature is its unique capability of providing (in vivo) cross-sectional view of the retina. Specifically, OCT images show the retinal layers. From the clinical point of view, the identification of the retinal layers opens new perspectives to study the correlation between morphological and functional aspects of the retinal tissue. The main contribution of this paper is a new method/algorithm for the automated segmentation of cross-sectional images of the retina of healthy eyes, obtained by means of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Specifically, the proposed segmentation algorithm provides the automated detection of different retinal layers. Tests on experimental SD-OCT scans performed by three different instruments/manufacturers have been successfully carried out and compared to a manual segmentation made by an independent ophthalmologist, showing the generality and the effectiveness of the proposed method.

An automated retinal imaging method for the early diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed

Franklin, S Wilfred; Rajan, S Edward

2013-01-01

Diabetic retinopathy is a microvascular complication of long-term diabetes and is the major cause for eyesight loss due to changes in blood vessels of the retina. Major vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy is highly preventable with regular screening and timely intervention at the earlier stages. Retinal blood vessel segmentation methods help to identify the successive stages of such sight threatening diseases like diabetes. To develop and test a novel retinal imaging method which segments the blood vessels automatically from retinal images, which helps the ophthalmologists in the diagnosis and follow-up of diabetic retinopathy. This method segments each image pixel as vessel or nonvessel, which in turn, used for automatic recognition of the vasculature in retinal images. Retinal blood vessels were identified by means of a multilayer perceptron neural network, for which the inputs were derived from the Gabor and moment invariants-based features. Back propagation algorithm, which provides an efficient technique to change the weights in a feed forward network, is utilized in our method. Quantitative results of sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were obtained in our method and the measured accuracy of our segmentation algorithm was 95.3%, which is better than that presented by state-of-the-art approaches. The evaluation procedure used and the demonstrated effectiveness of our automated retinal imaging method proves itself as the most powerful tool to diagnose diabetic retinopathy in the earlier stages.

Optical aberrations, retinal image quality and eye growth: Experimentation and modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Yibin

2007-12-01

Retinal image quality is important for normal eye growth. Optical aberrations are of interest for two reasons: first, they degrade retinal images; second, they might provide some cues to defocus. Higher than normal ocular aberrations have been previously associated with human myopia. However, these studies were cross-sectional in design, and only reported aberrations in terms of root mean square (RMS) errors of Zernike coefficients, a poor metric of optical quality. This dissertation presents results from investigations of ocular optical aberrations, retinal image quality and eye growth in chicks and humans. A number of techniques were utilized, including Shack-Hartmann aberrometry, high-frequency A-scan ultrasonography, ciliary nerve section (CNX), photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) as well as computer simulations and modeling. A technique to extract light scatter information from Shack-Hartmann images was also developed. The main findings of the dissertation are summarized below. In young chicks, most ocular aberrations decreased with growth in both normal and CNX eyes, and there were diurnal fluctuations in some aberrations. Modeling suggested active reduction in higher order aberrations (HOAs) during early development. Although CNX eyes manifested greater than normal HOAs, they showed near normal growth. Retinal image degradation varied greatly among individual eyes post-PRK in young chicks. Including light scatter information into analyses of retinal image quality better estimated the latter. Albino eyes showed more severe retinal image degradation than normal eyes, due to increased optical aberrations and light scatter, but their growth was similar to those of normal eyes, implying that they are relatively insensitive to retina image quality. Although the above results questioned the influence of optical aberrations on early ocular growth, some optical quality metrics, derived from optical aberrations data, could predict how much the eyes of young chicks subsequently elongated. The performance of some focus measures was very poor when non-defocus aberrations exceeded a certain level; presumably, these non-defocus aberrations might interfere with the eye's ability to interpret defocus. In anisomyopic human adults, more myopic eyes had larger anterior and vitreous chambers, greater astigmatism, and more positive spherical aberration. However, compared to isometropes, only interocular differences in spherical equivalent refractive errors were significantly increased.

Improving high resolution retinal image quality using speckle illumination HiLo imaging

PubMed Central

Zhou, Xiaolin; Bedggood, Phillip; Metha, Andrew

2014-01-01

Retinal image quality from flood illumination adaptive optics (AO) ophthalmoscopes is adversely affected by out-of-focus light scatter due to the lack of confocality. This effect is more pronounced in small eyes, such as that of rodents, because the requisite high optical power confers a large dioptric thickness to the retina. A recently-developed structured illumination microscopy (SIM) technique called HiLo imaging has been shown to reduce the effect of out-of-focus light scatter in flood illumination microscopes and produce pseudo-confocal images with significantly improved image quality. In this work, we adopted the HiLo technique to a flood AO ophthalmoscope and performed AO imaging in both (physical) model and live rat eyes. The improvement in image quality from HiLo imaging is shown both qualitatively and quantitatively by using spatial spectral analysis. PMID:25136486

Improving high resolution retinal image quality using speckle illumination HiLo imaging.

PubMed

Zhou, Xiaolin; Bedggood, Phillip; Metha, Andrew

2014-08-01

Retinal image quality from flood illumination adaptive optics (AO) ophthalmoscopes is adversely affected by out-of-focus light scatter due to the lack of confocality. This effect is more pronounced in small eyes, such as that of rodents, because the requisite high optical power confers a large dioptric thickness to the retina. A recently-developed structured illumination microscopy (SIM) technique called HiLo imaging has been shown to reduce the effect of out-of-focus light scatter in flood illumination microscopes and produce pseudo-confocal images with significantly improved image quality. In this work, we adopted the HiLo technique to a flood AO ophthalmoscope and performed AO imaging in both (physical) model and live rat eyes. The improvement in image quality from HiLo imaging is shown both qualitatively and quantitatively by using spatial spectral analysis.

Textureless Macula Swelling Detection with Multiple Retinal Fundus Images

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Giancardo, Luca; Meriaudeau, Fabrice; Karnowski, Thomas Paul

2010-01-01

Retinal fundus images acquired with non-mydriatic digital fundus cameras are a versatile tool for the diagnosis of various retinal diseases. Because of the ease of use of newer camera models and their relatively low cost, these cameras can be employed by operators with limited training for telemedicine or Point-of-Care applications. We propose a novel technique that uses uncalibrated multiple-view fundus images to analyse the swelling of the macula. This innovation enables the detection and quantitative measurement of swollen areas by remote ophthalmologists. This capability is not available with a single image and prone to error with stereo fundus cameras. Wemore » also present automatic algorithms to measure features from the reconstructed image which are useful in Point-of-Care automated diagnosis of early macular edema, e.g., before the appearance of exudation. The technique presented is divided into three parts: first, a preprocessing technique simultaneously enhances the dark microstructures of the macula and equalises the image; second, all available views are registered using non-morphological sparse features; finally, a dense pyramidal optical flow is calculated for all the images and statistically combined to build a naiveheight- map of the macula. Results are presented on three sets of synthetic images and two sets of real world images. These preliminary tests show the ability to infer a minimum swelling of 300 microns and to correlate the reconstruction with the swollen location.« less

Optical imaging of mitochondrial redox state in rodent model of retinitis pigmentosa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maleki, Sepideh; Gopalakrishnan, Sandeep; Ghanian, Zahra; Sepehr, Reyhaneh; Schmitt, Heather; Eells, Janis; Ranji, Mahsa

2013-01-01

Oxidative stress (OS) and mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to photoreceptor cell loss in retinal degenerative disorders. The metabolic state of the retina in a rodent model of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) was investigated using a cryo-fluorescence imaging technique. The mitochondrial metabolic coenzymes nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) are autofluorescent and can be monitored without exogenous labels using optical techniques. The cryo-fluorescence redox imaging technique provides a quantitative assessment of the metabolism. More specifically, the ratio of the fluorescence intensity of these fluorophores (NADH/FAD), the NADH redox ratio (RR), is a marker of the metabolic state of the tissue. The NADH RR and retinal function were examined in an established rodent model of RP, the P23H rat compared to that of nondystrophic Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The NADH RR mean values were 1.11±0.03 in the SD normal and 0.841±0.01 in the P23H retina, indicating increased OS in the P23H retina. Electroretinographic data revealed a significant reduction in photoreceptor function in P23H animals compared to SD nozrmal rats. Thus, cryo-fluorescence redox imaging was used as a quantitative marker of OS in eyes from transgenic rats and demonstrated that alterations in the oxidative state of eyes occur during the early stages of RP.

Optimal retinal cyst segmentation from OCT images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oguz, Ipek; Zhang, Li; Abramoff, Michael D.; Sonka, Milan

2016-03-01

Accurate and reproducible segmentation of cysts and fluid-filled regions from retinal OCT images is an important step allowing quantification of the disease status, longitudinal disease progression, and response to therapy in wet-pathology retinal diseases. However, segmentation of fluid-filled regions from OCT images is a challenging task due to their inhomogeneous appearance, the unpredictability of their number, size and location, as well as the intensity profile similarity between such regions and certain healthy tissue types. While machine learning techniques can be beneficial for this task, they require large training datasets and are often over-fitted to the appearance models of specific scanner vendors. We propose a knowledge-based approach that leverages a carefully designed cost function and graph-based segmentation techniques to provide a vendor-independent solution to this problem. We illustrate the results of this approach on two publicly available datasets with a variety of scanner vendors and retinal disease status. Compared to a previous machine-learning based approach, the volume similarity error was dramatically reduced from 81:3+/-56:4% to 22:2+/-21:3% (paired t-test, p << 0:001).

Three-dimensional image reconstruction of macula from stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT) for diagnosis of macular degeneration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arinilhaq; Widita, R.

2016-03-01

Diagnosis of macular degeneration using a Stratus OCT with a fast macular thickness map (FMTM) method produced six B-scan images of macula from different angles. The images were converted into a retinal thickness chart to be evaluated by normal distribution percentile of data so that it can be classified as normal thickness of macula or as experiencing abnormality (e.g. thickening and thinning). Unfortunately, the diagnostic images only represent the retinal thickness in several areas of the macular region. Thus, this study is aims to obtain the entire retinal thickness in the macula area from Status OCT's output images. Basically, the volumetric image is obtained by combining each of the six images. Reconstruction consists of a series of processes such as pre-processing, segmentation, and interpolation. Linear interpolation techniques are used to fill the empty pixels in reconstruction matrix. Based on the results, this method is able to provide retinal thickness maps on the macula surface and the macula 3D image. Retinal thickness map can display the macula area which experienced abnormalities. The macula 3D image can show the layers of tissue in the macula that is abnormal. The system built cannot replace ophthalmologist in decision making in term of diagnosis.

Mixture model-based clustering and logistic regression for automatic detection of microaneurysms in retinal images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez, Clara I.; Hornero, Roberto; Mayo, Agustín; García, María

2009-02-01

Diabetic Retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness and vision defects in developed countries. An early detection and diagnosis is crucial to avoid visual complication. Microaneurysms are the first ocular signs of the presence of this ocular disease. Their detection is of paramount importance for the development of a computer-aided diagnosis technique which permits a prompt diagnosis of the disease. However, the detection of microaneurysms in retinal images is a difficult task due to the wide variability that these images usually present in screening programs. We propose a statistical approach based on mixture model-based clustering and logistic regression which is robust to the changes in the appearance of retinal fundus images. The method is evaluated on the public database proposed by the Retinal Online Challenge in order to obtain an objective performance measure and to allow a comparative study with other proposed algorithms.

Characterisation of Feature Points in Eye Fundus Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calvo, D.; Ortega, M.; Penedo, M. G.; Rouco, J.

The retinal vessel tree adds decisive knowledge in the diagnosis of numerous opthalmologic pathologies such as hypertension or diabetes. One of the problems in the analysis of the retinal vessel tree is the lack of information in terms of vessels depth as the image acquisition usually leads to a 2D image. This situation provokes a scenario where two different vessels coinciding in a point could be interpreted as a vessel forking into a bifurcation. That is why, for traking and labelling the retinal vascular tree, bifurcations and crossovers of vessels are considered feature points. In this work a novel method for these retinal vessel tree feature points detection and classification is introduced. The method applies image techniques such as filters or thinning to obtain the adequate structure to detect the points and sets a classification of these points studying its environment. The methodology is tested using a standard database and the results show high classification capabilities.

Dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography images transit time and quantifies microvascular plasma volume and flow in the retina and choriocapillaris

PubMed Central

Merkle, Conrad W.; Leahy, Conor; Srinivasan, Vivek J.

2016-01-01

Despite the prevalence of optical imaging techniques to measure hemodynamics in large retinal vessels, quantitative measurements of retinal capillary and choroidal hemodynamics have traditionally been challenging. Here, a new imaging technique called dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography (DyC-OCT) is applied in the rat eye to study microvascular blood flow in individual retinal and choroidal layers in vivo. DyC-OCT is based on imaging the transit of an intravascular tracer dynamically as it passes through the field-of-view. Hemodynamic parameters can be determined through quantitative analysis of tracer kinetics. In addition to enabling depth-resolved transit time, volume, and flow measurements, the injected tracer also enhances OCT angiograms and enables clear visualization of the choriocapillaris, particularly when combined with a post-processing method for vessel enhancement. DyC-OCT complements conventional OCT angiography through quantification of tracer dynamics, similar to fluorescence angiography, but with the important added benefit of laminar resolution. PMID:27867732

Dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography images transit time and quantifies microvascular plasma volume and flow in the retina and choriocapillaris.

PubMed

Merkle, Conrad W; Leahy, Conor; Srinivasan, Vivek J

2016-10-01

Despite the prevalence of optical imaging techniques to measure hemodynamics in large retinal vessels, quantitative measurements of retinal capillary and choroidal hemodynamics have traditionally been challenging. Here, a new imaging technique called dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography (DyC-OCT) is applied in the rat eye to study microvascular blood flow in individual retinal and choroidal layers in vivo . DyC-OCT is based on imaging the transit of an intravascular tracer dynamically as it passes through the field-of-view. Hemodynamic parameters can be determined through quantitative analysis of tracer kinetics. In addition to enabling depth-resolved transit time, volume, and flow measurements, the injected tracer also enhances OCT angiograms and enables clear visualization of the choriocapillaris, particularly when combined with a post-processing method for vessel enhancement. DyC-OCT complements conventional OCT angiography through quantification of tracer dynamics, similar to fluorescence angiography, but with the important added benefit of laminar resolution.

Identification of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Using OCT Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arabi, Punal M., Dr; Krishna, Nanditha; Ashwini, V.; Prathibha, H. M.

2018-02-01

Age-related Macular Degeneration is the most leading retinal disease in the recent years. Macular degeneration occurs when the central portion of the retina, called macula deteriorates. As the deterioration occurs with the age, it is commonly referred as Age-related Macular Degeneration. This disease can be visualized by several imaging modalities such as Fundus imaging technique, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technique and many other. Optical Coherence Tomography is the widely used technique for screening the Age-related Macular Degeneration disease, because it has an ability to detect the very minute changes in the retina. The Healthy and AMD affected OCT images are classified by extracting the Retinal Pigmented Epithelium (RPE) layer of the images using the image processing technique. The extracted layer is sampled, the no. of white pixels in each of the sample is counted and the mean value of the no. of pixels is calculated. The average mean value is calculated for both the Healthy and the AMD affected images and a threshold value is fixed and a decision rule is framed to classify the images of interest. The proposed method showed an accuracy of 75%.

Automatic detection of the macula in retinal fundus images using seeded mode tracking approach.

PubMed

Wong, Damon W K; Liu, Jiang; Tan, Ngan-Meng; Yin, Fengshou; Cheng, Xiangang; Cheng, Ching-Yu; Cheung, Gemmy C M; Wong, Tien Yin

2012-01-01

The macula is the part of the eye responsible for central high acuity vision. Detection of the macula is an important task in retinal image processing as a landmark for subsequent disease assessment, such as for age-related macula degeneration. In this paper, we have presented an approach to automatically determine the macula centre in retinal fundus images. First contextual information on the image is combined with a statistical model to obtain an approximate macula region of interest localization. Subsequently, we propose the use of a seeded mode tracking technique to locate the macula centre. The proposed approach is tested on a large dataset composed of 482 normal images and 162 glaucoma images from the ORIGA database and an additional 96 AMD images. The results show a ROI detection of 97.5%, and 90.5% correct detection of the macula within 1/3DD from a manual reference, which outperforms other current methods. The results are promising for the use of the proposed approach to locate the macula for the detection of macula diseases from retinal images.

An approach to localize the retinal blood vessels using bit planes and centerline detection.

PubMed

Fraz, M M; Barman, S A; Remagnino, P; Hoppe, A; Basit, A; Uyyanonvara, B; Rudnicka, A R; Owen, C G

2012-11-01

The change in morphology, diameter, branching pattern or tortuosity of retinal blood vessels is an important indicator of various clinical disorders of the eye and the body. This paper reports an automated method for segmentation of blood vessels in retinal images. A unique combination of techniques for vessel centerlines detection and morphological bit plane slicing is presented to extract the blood vessel tree from the retinal images. The centerlines are extracted by using the first order derivative of a Gaussian filter in four orientations and then evaluation of derivative signs and average derivative values is performed. Mathematical morphology has emerged as a proficient technique for quantifying the blood vessels in the retina. The shape and orientation map of blood vessels is obtained by applying a multidirectional morphological top-hat operator with a linear structuring element followed by bit plane slicing of the vessel enhanced grayscale image. The centerlines are combined with these maps to obtain the segmented vessel tree. The methodology is tested on three publicly available databases DRIVE, STARE and MESSIDOR. The results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed algorithm is comparable with state of the art techniques in terms of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toward automatic phenotyping of retinal images from genetically determined mono- and dizygotic twins using amplitude modulation-frequency modulation methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soliz, P.; Davis, B.; Murray, V.; Pattichis, M.; Barriga, S.; Russell, S.

2010-03-01

This paper presents an image processing technique for automatically categorize age-related macular degeneration (AMD) phenotypes from retinal images. Ultimately, an automated approach will be much more precise and consistent in phenotyping of retinal diseases, such as AMD. We have applied the automated phenotyping to retina images from a cohort of mono- and dizygotic twins. The application of this technology will allow one to perform more quantitative studies that will lead to a better understanding of the genetic and environmental factors associated with diseases such as AMD. A method for classifying retinal images based on features derived from the application of amplitude-modulation frequency-modulation (AM-FM) methods is presented. Retinal images from identical and fraternal twins who presented with AMD were processed to determine whether AM-FM could be used to differentiate between the two types of twins. Results of the automatic classifier agreed with the findings of other researchers in explaining the variation of the disease between the related twins. AM-FM features classified 72% of the twins correctly. Visual grading found that genetics could explain between 46% and 71% of the variance.

A Review of Algorithms for Segmentation of Optical Coherence Tomography from Retina

PubMed Central

Kafieh, Raheleh; Rabbani, Hossein; Kermani, Saeed

2013-01-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a recently established imaging technique to describe different information about the internal structures of an object and to image various aspects of biological tissues. OCT image segmentation is mostly introduced on retinal OCT to localize the intra-retinal boundaries. Here, we review some of the important image segmentation methods for processing retinal OCT images. We may classify the OCT segmentation approaches into five distinct groups according to the image domain subjected to the segmentation algorithm. Current researches in OCT segmentation are mostly based on improving the accuracy and precision, and on reducing the required processing time. There is no doubt that current 3-D imaging modalities are now moving the research projects toward volume segmentation along with 3-D rendering and visualization. It is also important to develop robust methods capable of dealing with pathologic cases in OCT imaging. PMID:24083137

Retinal vessel enhancement based on the Gaussian function and image fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moraru, Luminita; Obreja, Cristian Dragoş

2017-01-01

The Gaussian function is essential in the construction of the Frangi and COSFIRE (combination of shifted filter responses) filters. The connection of the broken vessels and an accurate extraction of the vascular structure is the main goal of this study. Thus, the outcome of the Frangi and COSFIRE edge detection algorithms are fused using the Dempster-Shafer algorithm with the aim to improve detection and to enhance the retinal vascular structure. For objective results, the average diameters of the retinal vessels provided by Frangi, COSFIRE and Dempster-Shafer fusion algorithms are measured. These experimental values are compared to the ground truth values provided by manually segmented retinal images. We prove the superiority of the fusion algorithm in terms of image quality by using the figure of merit objective metric that correlates the effects of all post-processing techniques.

A dual-modal retinal imaging system with adaptive optics.

PubMed

Meadway, Alexander; Girkin, Christopher A; Zhang, Yuhua

2013-12-02

An adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AO-SLO) is adapted to provide optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. The AO-SLO function is unchanged. The system uses the same light source, scanning optics, and adaptive optics in both imaging modes. The result is a dual-modal system that can acquire retinal images in both en face and cross-section planes at the single cell level. A new spectral shaping method is developed to reduce the large sidelobes in the coherence profile of the OCT imaging when a non-ideal source is used with a minimal introduction of noise. The technique uses a combination of two existing digital techniques. The thickness and position of the traditionally named inner segment/outer segment junction are measured from individual photoreceptors. In-vivo images of healthy and diseased human retinas are demonstrated.

Directional imaging of the retinal cone mosaic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vohnsen, Brian; Iglesias, Ignacio; Artal, Pablo

2004-05-01

We describe a near-IR scanning laser ophthalmoscope that allows the retinal cone mosaic to be imaged in the human eye in vivo without the use of wave-front correction techniques. The method takes advantage of the highly directional quality of cone photoreceptors that permits efficient coupling of light to individual cones and subsequent detection of most directional components of the backscattered light produced by the light-guiding effect of the cones. We discuss details of the system and describe cone-mosaic images obtained under different conditions.

Accurate Image Analysis of the Retina Using Hessian Matrix and Binarisation of Thresholded Entropy with Application of Texture Mapping

PubMed Central

Yin, Xiaoxia; Ng, Brian W-H; He, Jing; Zhang, Yanchun; Abbott, Derek

2014-01-01

In this paper, we demonstrate a comprehensive method for segmenting the retinal vasculature in camera images of the fundus. This is of interest in the area of diagnostics for eye diseases that affect the blood vessels in the eye. In a departure from other state-of-the-art methods, vessels are first pre-grouped together with graph partitioning, using a spectral clustering technique based on morphological features. Local curvature is estimated over the whole image using eigenvalues of Hessian matrix in order to enhance the vessels, which appear as ridges in images of the retina. The result is combined with a binarized image, obtained using a threshold that maximizes entropy, to extract the retinal vessels from the background. Speckle type noise is reduced by applying a connectivity constraint on the extracted curvature based enhanced image. This constraint is varied over the image according to each region's predominant blood vessel size. The resultant image exhibits the central light reflex of retinal arteries and veins, which prevents the segmentation of whole vessels. To address this, the earlier entropy-based binarization technique is repeated on the original image, but crucially, with a different threshold to incorporate the central reflex vessels. The final segmentation is achieved by combining the segmented vessels with and without central light reflex. We carry out our approach on DRIVE and REVIEW, two publicly available collections of retinal images for research purposes. The obtained results are compared with state-of-the-art methods in the literature using metrics such as sensitivity (true positive rate), selectivity (false positive rate) and accuracy rates for the DRIVE images and measured vessel widths for the REVIEW images. Our approach out-performs the methods in the literature. PMID:24781033

MEMS-based system and image processing strategy for epiretinal prosthesis.

PubMed

Xia, Peng; Hu, Jie; Qi, Jin; Gu, Chaochen; Peng, Yinghong

2015-01-01

Retinal prostheses have the potential to restore some level of visual function to the patients suffering from retinal degeneration. In this paper, an epiretinal approach with active stimulation devices is presented. The MEMS-based processing system consists of an external micro-camera, an information processor, an implanted electrical stimulator and a microelectrode array. The image processing strategy combining image clustering and enhancement techniques was proposed and evaluated by psychophysical experiments. The results indicated that the image processing strategy improved the visual performance compared with direct merging pixels to low resolution. The image processing methods assist epiretinal prosthesis for vision restoration.

Calculation of the diameter of the central retinal artery from noninvasive measurements in humans.

PubMed

Dorner, Guido T; Polska, Elzbieta; Garhöfer, Gerhard; Zawinka, Claudia; Frank, Barbara; Schmetterer, Leopold

2002-12-01

The aim of the present study was to calculate the diameter of the central retinal artery from results as obtained with non-invasive techniques in healthy young subjects. Twenty-four healthy male subjects participated in this study. Total retinal blood flow was calculated from combined bi-directional laser Doppler velocimetry and measurement of retinal venous diameters using the Zeiss retinal vessel analyzer. Using these techniques red blood cell velocity and vessel diameters of all visible veins entering the optic nerve head were measured and total retinal blood flow was calculated. Blood flow velocity in the central retinal artery was measured with color Doppler imaging. Form these outcome parameters the diameter of the central retinal artery was calculated for each subject individually. In the present study cohort the mean retinal blood flow was 38.1 +/- 9.1 microl/min and the mean flow velocity in the central retinal artery was 6.3 +/- 1.2 cm/s. From these data we calculated a mean diameter of the central retinal artery of 163 +/- 17 microm. Our results are in good agreement with data obtained from in vitro studies. The data of the present study also indicate that one needs to be careful to interpret velocity data from the central retinal artery in terms of retinal blood flow.

Imaging Retinal Vascular Changes in the Mouse Model of Oxygen-Induced Retinopathy

PubMed Central

Furtado, João M.; Davies, Michael H.; Choi, Dongseok; Lauer, Andreas K.; Appukuttan, Binoy; Bailey, Steven T.; Rahman, Hassan T.; Payne, John F.; Stempel, Andrew J.; Mohs, Kathleen; Powers, Michael R.; Yeh, Steven; Smith, Justine R.

2012-01-01

Purpose Oxygen-induced retinopathy in the mouse is the standard experimental model of retinopathy of prematurity. Assessment of the pathology involves in vitro analysis of retinal vaso-obliteration and retinal neovascularization. The authors studied the clinical features of oxygen-induced retinopathy in vivo using topical endoscopy fundus imaging (TEFI), in comparison to standard investigations, and evaluated a system for grading these features. Methods Postnatal day (P)7 mice were exposed to 75% oxygen for five days to induce retinopathy or maintained in room air as controls. Retinal vascular competence was graded against standard photographs by three masked graders. Retinal photographs were obtained at predetermined ages using TEFI. Postmortem, retinal vaso-obliteration was measured in whole mounts with labeled vasculature, and retinal neovascularization was quantified in hematoxylin- and eosin-stained ocular cross sections. Results Fundus photography by TEFI was possible from P15, when retinal vascular incompetence, including dilatation and tortuosity, was significant in mice with oxygen-induced retinopathy in comparison to controls. Vascular incompetence peaked in severity at P17 and persisted through P25. Comparison with in vitro analyses indicated that vascular changes were most severe after retinal avascularity had begun to decrease in area, and coincident with the maximum of retinal neovascularization. A weighted Fleiss-Cohen kappa indicated good intra- and interobserver agreement for a 5-point grading system. Conclusions Topical endoscopy fundus imaging demonstrates retinal vascular incompetence in mice with oxygen-induced retinopathy. The technique complements standard postmortem analysis for following the course of the model. Translational Relevance Topical endoscopy fundus imaging has application in the evaluation of novel biologic drugs for retinopathy of prematurity. PMID:24049705

In vivo imaging of the retinal pigment epithelial cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morgan, Jessica Ijams Wolfing

The retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells form an important layer of the retina because they are responsible for providing metabolic support to the photoreceptors. Techniques to image the RPE layer include autofluorescence imaging with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO). However, previous studies were unable to resolve single RPE cells in vivo. This thesis describes the technique of combining autofluorescence, SLO, adaptive optics (AO), and dual-wavelength simultaneous imaging and registration to visualize the individual cells in the RPE mosaic in human and primate retina for the first time in vivo. After imaging the RPE mosaic non-invasively, the cell layer's structure and regularity were characterized using quantitative metrics of cell density, spacing, and nearest neighbor distances. The RPE mosaic was compared to the cone mosaic, and RPE imaging methods were confirmed using histology. The ability to image the RPE mosaic led to the discovery of a novel retinal change following light exposure; 568 nm exposures caused an immediate reduction in autofluorescence followed by either full recovery or permanent damage in the RPE layer. A safety study was conducted to determine the range of exposure irradiances that caused permanent damage or transient autofluorescence reductions. Additionally, the threshold exposure causing autofluorescence reduction was determined and reciprocity of radiant exposure was confirmed. Light exposures delivered by the AOSLO were not significantly different than those delivered by a uniform source. As all exposures tested were near or below the permissible light levels of safety standards, this thesis provides evidence that the current light safety standards need to be revised. Finally, with the retinal damage and autofluorescence reduction thresholds identified, the methods of RPE imaging were modified to allow successful imaging of the individual cells in the RPE mosaic while still ensuring retinal safety. This thesis has provided a highly sensitive method for studying the in vivo morphology of individual RPE cells in normal, diseased, and damaged retinas. The methods presented here also will allow longitudinal studies for tracking disease progression and assessing treatment efficacy in human patients and animal models of retinal diseases affecting the RPE.

Imaging of the optic nerve and retinal nerve fiber layer: an essential part of glaucoma diagnosis and monitoring.

PubMed

Kotowski, Jacek; Wollstein, Gadi; Ishikawa, Hiroshi; Schuman, Joel S

2014-01-01

Because glaucomatous damage is irreversible early detection of structural changes in the optic nerve head and retinal nerve fiber layer is imperative for timely diagnosis of glaucoma and monitoring of its progression. Significant improvements in ocular imaging have been made in recent years. Imaging techniques such as optical coherence tomography, scanning laser polarimetry and confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy rely on different properties of light to provide objective structural assessment of the optic nerve head, retinal nerve fiber layer and macula. In this review, we discuss the capabilities of these imaging modalities pertinent for diagnosis of glaucoma and detection of progressive glaucomatous damage and provide a review of the current knowledge on the clinical performance of these technologies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Patch-clamp, ion-sensing, and glutamate-sensing techniques to study glutamate transport in isolated retinal glial cells.

PubMed

Billups, B; Szatkowski, M; Rossi, D; Attwell, D

1998-01-01

We have described how a combination of electrical, ion-sensing, and glutamate-sensing techniques has advanced our understanding of glutamate uptake into isolated salamander retinal glial cells. The next steps in understanding glutamate transport will inevitably depend strongly on molecular biological methods, as described elsewhere in this book, but will also require more detailed study of transporters in their normal environment, perhaps by using patch-clamping or imaging techniques to study cells in situ.

High-Resolution In Vivo Imaging of Regimes of Laser Damage to the Primate Retina

PubMed Central

Pocock, Ginger M.; Oliver, Jeffrey W.; Specht, Charles S.; Estep, J. Scot; Noojin, Gary D.; Schuster, Kurt; Rockwell, Benjamin A.

2014-01-01

Purpose. To investigate fundamental mechanisms of regimes of laser induced damage to the retina and the morphological changes associated with the damage response. Methods. Varying grades of photothermal, photochemical, and photomechanical retinal laser damage were produced in eyes of eight cynomolgus monkeys. An adaptive optics confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope and spectral domain optical coherence tomographer were combined to simultaneously collect complementary in vivo images of retinal laser damage during and following exposure. Baseline color fundus photography was performed to complement high-resolution imaging. Monkeys were perfused with 10% buffered formalin and eyes were enucleated for histological analysis. Results. Laser energies for visible retinal damage in this study were consistent with previously reported damage thresholds. Lesions were identified in OCT images that were not visible in direct ophthalmoscopic examination or fundus photos. Unique diagnostic characteristics, specific to each damage regime, were identified and associated with shape and localization of lesions to specific retinal layers. Previously undocumented retinal healing response to blue continuous wave laser exposure was recorded through a novel experimental methodology. Conclusion. This study revealed increased sensitivity of lesion detection and improved specificity to the laser of origin utilizing high-resolution imaging when compared to traditional ophthalmic imaging techniques in the retina. PMID:24891943

Detection of Glaucoma Using Image Processing Techniques: A Critique.

PubMed

Kumar, B Naveen; Chauhan, R P; Dahiya, Nidhi

2018-01-01

The primary objective of this article is to present a summary of different types of image processing methods employed for the detection of glaucoma, a serious eye disease. Glaucoma affects the optic nerve in which retinal ganglion cells become dead, and this leads to loss of vision. The principal cause is the increase in intraocular pressure, which occurs in open-angle and angle-closure glaucoma, the two major types affecting the optic nerve. In the early stages of glaucoma, no perceptible symptoms appear. As the disease progresses, vision starts to become hazy, leading to blindness. Therefore, early detection of glaucoma is needed for prevention. Manual analysis of ophthalmic images is fairly time-consuming and accuracy depends on the expertise of the professionals. Automatic analysis of retinal images is an important tool. Automation aids in the detection, diagnosis, and prevention of risks associated with the disease. Fundus images obtained from a fundus camera have been used for the analysis. Requisite pre-processing techniques have been applied to the image and, depending upon the technique, various classifiers have been used to detect glaucoma. The techniques mentioned in the present review have certain advantages and disadvantages. Based on this study, one can determine which technique provides an optimum result.

Multiparametric optical coherence tomography imaging of the inner retinal hemodynamic response to visual stimulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radhakrishnan, Harsha; Srinivasan, Vivek J.

2013-08-01

The hemodynamic response to neuronal activation is a well-studied phenomenon in the brain, due to the prevalence of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The retina represents an optically accessible platform for studying lamina-specific neurovascular coupling in the central nervous system; however, due to methodological limitations, this has been challenging to date. We demonstrate techniques for the imaging of visual stimulus-evoked hyperemia in the rat inner retina using Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography. Volumetric imaging with three-dimensional motion correction, en face flow calculation, and normalization of dynamic signal to static signal are techniques that reduce spurious changes caused by motion. We anticipate that OCT imaging of retinal functional hyperemia may yield viable biomarkers in diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, where the neurovascular unit may be impaired.

Delayed near-infrared analysis permits visualization of rodent retinal pigment epithelium layer in vivo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pankova, Natalie; Zhao, Xu; Liang, Huiyuan; Baek, David Sung Hyeon; Wang, Hai; Boyd, Shelley

2014-07-01

Patches of atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) have not been described in rodent models of retinal degeneration, as they have the clinical setting using fundus autofluorescence. We hypothesize that prelabeling the RPE would increase contrast and allow for improved visualization of RPE loss in vivo. Here, we demonstrate a new technique termed "delayed near-infrared analysis (DNIRA)" that permits ready detection of rat RPE, using optical imaging in the near-infrared (IR) spectrum with aid of indocyanine green (ICG) dye. Using DNIRA, we demonstrate a fluorescent RPE signal that is detected using confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy up to 28 days following ICG injection. This signal is apparent only after ICG injection, is dose dependent, requires the presence of the ICG filters (795/810 nm excitation/emission), does not appear in the IR reflectance channel, and is eliminated in the presence of sodium iodate, a toxin that causes RPE loss. Rat RPE explants confirm internalization of ICG dye. Together with normal retinal electrophysiology, these findings demonstrate that DNIRA is a new and safe noninvasive optical imaging technique for in vivo visualization of the RPE in models of retinal disease.

Test-retest reliability of retinal oxygen saturation measurement.

PubMed

O'Connell, Rachael A; Anderson, Andrew J; Hosking, Sarah L; Batcha, Abrez H; Bui, Bang V

2014-06-01

To determine intrasession and intersession repeatability of retinal vessel oxygen saturation from the Oxymap Retinal Oximeter using a whole image-based analysis technique and so determine optimal analysis parameters to reduce variability. Ten fundus oximetry images were acquired through dilated pupils from 18 healthy participants (aged 22 to 38) using the Oxymap Retinal Oximeter T1. A further 10 images were obtained 1 to 2 weeks later from each individual. Analysis was undertaken for subsets of images to determine the number of images needed to return a stable coefficient of variation (CoV). Intrasession and intersession variability were quantified by evaluating the CoV and establishing the 95% limits of agreement using Bland and Altman analysis. Retinal oxygenation was derived from the distribution of oxygenation values from all vessels of a given width in an image or set of images, as described by Paul et al. in 2013. Grouped in 10-μm-wide bins, oxygen saturation varied significantly for both arteries and veins (p < 0.01). Between 110 and 150 μm, arteries had the least variability between individuals, with average CoVs less than 5% whose confidence intervals did not overlap with the greater than 10% average CoVs for veins across the same range. Bland and Altman analysis showed that there was no bias within or between recording sessions and that the 95% limits of agreement were generally lower in arteries. Retinal vessel oxygen saturation measurements show variability within and between clinical sessions when the whole image is used, which we believe more accurately reflects the true variability in Oxymap images than previous studies on select image segments. Averaging data from vessels 100 to 150 μm in width may help to minimize such variability.

Automated detection of diabetic retinopathy on digital fundus images.

PubMed

Sinthanayothin, C; Boyce, J F; Williamson, T H; Cook, H L; Mensah, E; Lal, S; Usher, D

2002-02-01

The aim was to develop an automated screening system to analyse digital colour retinal images for important features of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR). High performance pre-processing of the colour images was performed. Previously described automated image analysis systems were used to detect major landmarks of the retinal image (optic disc, blood vessels and fovea). Recursive region growing segmentation algorithms combined with the use of a new technique, termed a 'Moat Operator', were used to automatically detect features of NPDR. These features included haemorrhages and microaneurysms (HMA), which were treated as one group, and hard exudates as another group. Sensitivity and specificity data were calculated by comparison with an experienced fundoscopist. The algorithm for exudate recognition was applied to 30 retinal images of which 21 contained exudates and nine were without pathology. The sensitivity and specificity for exudate detection were 88.5% and 99.7%, respectively, when compared with the ophthalmologist. HMA were present in 14 retinal images. The algorithm achieved a sensitivity of 77.5% and specificity of 88.7% for detection of HMA. Fully automated computer algorithms were able to detect hard exudates and HMA. This paper presents encouraging results in automatic identification of important features of NPDR.

Automatic segmentation of closed-contour features in ophthalmic images using graph theory and dynamic programming.

PubMed

Chiu, Stephanie J; Toth, Cynthia A; Bowes Rickman, Catherine; Izatt, Joseph A; Farsiu, Sina

2012-05-01

This paper presents a generalized framework for segmenting closed-contour anatomical and pathological features using graph theory and dynamic programming (GTDP). More specifically, the GTDP method previously developed for quantifying retinal and corneal layer thicknesses is extended to segment objects such as cells and cysts. The presented technique relies on a transform that maps closed-contour features in the Cartesian domain into lines in the quasi-polar domain. The features of interest are then segmented as layers via GTDP. Application of this method to segment closed-contour features in several ophthalmic image types is shown. Quantitative validation experiments for retinal pigmented epithelium cell segmentation in confocal fluorescence microscopy images attests to the accuracy of the presented technique.

Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy in fundus imaging, a review and update.

PubMed

Zhang, Bing; Li, Ni; Kang, Jie; He, Yi; Chen, Xiao-Ming

2017-01-01

Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AO-SLO) has been a promising technique in funds imaging with growing popularity. This review firstly gives a brief history of adaptive optics (AO) and AO-SLO. Then it compares AO-SLO with conventional imaging methods (fundus fluorescein angiography, fundus autofluorescence, indocyanine green angiography and optical coherence tomography) and other AO techniques (adaptive optics flood-illumination ophthalmoscopy and adaptive optics optical coherence tomography). Furthermore, an update of current research situation in AO-SLO is made based on different fundus structures as photoreceptors (cones and rods), fundus vessels, retinal pigment epithelium layer, retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell layer and lamina cribrosa. Finally, this review indicates possible research directions of AO-SLO in future.

Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy in fundus imaging, a review and update

PubMed Central

Zhang, Bing; Li, Ni; Kang, Jie; He, Yi; Chen, Xiao-Ming

2017-01-01

Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AO-SLO) has been a promising technique in funds imaging with growing popularity. This review firstly gives a brief history of adaptive optics (AO) and AO-SLO. Then it compares AO-SLO with conventional imaging methods (fundus fluorescein angiography, fundus autofluorescence, indocyanine green angiography and optical coherence tomography) and other AO techniques (adaptive optics flood-illumination ophthalmoscopy and adaptive optics optical coherence tomography). Furthermore, an update of current research situation in AO-SLO is made based on different fundus structures as photoreceptors (cones and rods), fundus vessels, retinal pigment epithelium layer, retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell layer and lamina cribrosa. Finally, this review indicates possible research directions of AO-SLO in future. PMID:29181321

Automatic segmentation of closed-contour features in ophthalmic images using graph theory and dynamic programming

PubMed Central

Chiu, Stephanie J.; Toth, Cynthia A.; Bowes Rickman, Catherine; Izatt, Joseph A.; Farsiu, Sina

2012-01-01

This paper presents a generalized framework for segmenting closed-contour anatomical and pathological features using graph theory and dynamic programming (GTDP). More specifically, the GTDP method previously developed for quantifying retinal and corneal layer thicknesses is extended to segment objects such as cells and cysts. The presented technique relies on a transform that maps closed-contour features in the Cartesian domain into lines in the quasi-polar domain. The features of interest are then segmented as layers via GTDP. Application of this method to segment closed-contour features in several ophthalmic image types is shown. Quantitative validation experiments for retinal pigmented epithelium cell segmentation in confocal fluorescence microscopy images attests to the accuracy of the presented technique. PMID:22567602

Integrated Photoacoustic Ophthalmoscopy and Spectral-domain Optical Coherence Tomography

PubMed Central

Jiao, Shuliang; Zhang, Hao F.

2013-01-01

Both the clinical diagnosis and fundamental investigation of major ocular diseases greatly benefit from various non-invasive ophthalmic imaging technologies. Existing retinal imaging modalities, such as fundus photography1, confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO)2, and optical coherence tomography (OCT)3, have significant contributions in monitoring disease onsets and progressions, and developing new therapeutic strategies. However, they predominantly rely on the back-reflected photons from the retina. As a consequence, the optical absorption properties of the retina, which are usually strongly associated with retinal pathophysiology status, are inaccessible by the traditional imaging technologies. Photoacoustic ophthalmoscopy (PAOM) is an emerging retinal imaging modality that permits the detection of the optical absorption contrasts in the eye with a high sensitivity4-7 . In PAOM nanosecond laser pulses are delivered through the pupil and scanned across the posterior eye to induce photoacoustic (PA) signals, which are detected by an unfocused ultrasonic transducer attached to the eyelid. Because of the strong optical absorption of hemoglobin and melanin, PAOM is capable of non-invasively imaging the retinal and choroidal vasculatures, and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) melanin at high contrasts 6,7. More importantly, based on the well-developed spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging5,8 , PAOM has the potential to map the hemoglobin oxygen saturation in retinal vessels, which can be critical in studying the physiology and pathology of several blinding diseases 9 such as diabetic retinopathy and neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Moreover, being the only existing optical-absorption-based ophthalmic imaging modality, PAOM can be integrated with well-established clinical ophthalmic imaging techniques to achieve more comprehensive anatomic and functional evaluations of the eye based on multiple optical contrasts6,10 . In this work, we integrate PAOM and spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) for simultaneously in vivo retinal imaging of rat, where both optical absorption and scattering properties of the retina are revealed. The system configuration, system alignment and imaging acquisition are presented. PMID:23354081

Optical Coherence Tomography for Retinal Surgery: Perioperative Analysis to Real-Time Four-Dimensional Image-Guided Surgery.

PubMed

Carrasco-Zevallos, Oscar M; Keller, Brenton; Viehland, Christian; Shen, Liangbo; Seider, Michael I; Izatt, Joseph A; Toth, Cynthia A

2016-07-01

Magnification of the surgical field using the operating microscope facilitated profound innovations in retinal surgery in the 1970s, such as pars plana vitrectomy. Although surgical instrumentation and illumination techniques are continually developing, the operating microscope for vitreoretinal procedures has remained essentially unchanged and currently limits the surgeon's depth perception and assessment of subtle microanatomy. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has revolutionized clinical management of retinal pathology, and its introduction into the operating suite may have a similar impact on surgical visualization and treatment. In this article, we review the evolution of OCT for retinal surgery, from perioperative analysis to live volumetric (four-dimensional, 4D) image-guided surgery. We begin by briefly addressing the benefits and limitations of the operating microscope, the progression of OCT technology, and OCT applications in clinical/perioperative retinal imaging. Next, we review intraoperative OCT (iOCT) applications using handheld probes during surgical pauses, two-dimensional (2D) microscope-integrated OCT (MIOCT) of live surgery, and volumetric MIOCT of live surgery. The iOCT discussion focuses on technological advancements, applications during human retinal surgery, translational difficulties and limitations, and future directions.

Optical Coherence Tomography for Retinal Surgery: Perioperative Analysis to Real-Time Four-Dimensional Image-Guided Surgery

PubMed Central

Carrasco-Zevallos, Oscar M.; Keller, Brenton; Viehland, Christian; Shen, Liangbo; Seider, Michael I.; Izatt, Joseph A.; Toth, Cynthia A.

2016-01-01

Magnification of the surgical field using the operating microscope facilitated profound innovations in retinal surgery in the 1970s, such as pars plana vitrectomy. Although surgical instrumentation and illumination techniques are continually developing, the operating microscope for vitreoretinal procedures has remained essentially unchanged and currently limits the surgeon's depth perception and assessment of subtle microanatomy. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has revolutionized clinical management of retinal pathology, and its introduction into the operating suite may have a similar impact on surgical visualization and treatment. In this article, we review the evolution of OCT for retinal surgery, from perioperative analysis to live volumetric (four-dimensional, 4D) image-guided surgery. We begin by briefly addressing the benefits and limitations of the operating microscope, the progression of OCT technology, and OCT applications in clinical/perioperative retinal imaging. Next, we review intraoperative OCT (iOCT) applications using handheld probes during surgical pauses, two-dimensional (2D) microscope-integrated OCT (MIOCT) of live surgery, and volumetric MIOCT of live surgery. The iOCT discussion focuses on technological advancements, applications during human retinal surgery, translational difficulties and limitations, and future directions. PMID:27409495

Fpga based hardware synthesis for automatic segmentation of retinal blood vessels in diabetic retinopathy images.

PubMed

Sivakamasundari, J; Kavitha, G; Sujatha, C M; Ramakrishnan, S

2014-01-01

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a disorder that affects the structure of retinal blood vessels due to long-standing diabetes mellitus. Real-Time mass screening system for DR is vital for timely diagnosis and periodic screening to prevent the patient from severe visual loss. Human retinal fundus images are widely used for an automated segmentation of blood vessel and diagnosis of various blood vessel disorders. In this work, an attempt has been made to perform hardware synthesis of Kirsch template based edge detection for segmentation of blood vessels. This method is implemented using LabVIEW software and is synthesized in field programmable gate array board to yield results in real-time application. The segmentation of blood vessels using Kirsch based edge detection is compared with other edge detection methods such as Sobel, Prewitt and Canny. The texture features such as energy, entropy, contrast, mean, homogeneity and structural feature namely ratio of vessel to vessel free area are obtained from the segmented images. The performance of segmentation is analysed in terms of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. It is observed from the results that the Kirsch based edge detection technique segmented the edges of blood vessels better than other edge detection techniques. The ratio of vessel to vessel free area classified the normal and DR affected retinal images more significantly than other texture based features. FPGA based hardware synthesis of Kirsch edge detection method is able to differentiate normal and diseased images with high specificity (93%). This automated segmentation of retinal blood vessels system could be used in computer-assisted diagnosis for diabetic retinopathy screening in real-time application.

Retinal microvascular network alterations: potential biomarkers of cerebrovascular and neural diseases.

PubMed

Cabrera DeBuc, Delia; Somfai, Gabor Mark; Koller, Akos

2017-02-01

Increasing evidence suggests that the conditions of retinal microvessels are indicators to a variety of cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative, psychiatric, and developmental diseases. Thus noninvasive visualization of the human retinal microcirculation offers an exceptional opportunity for the investigation of not only the retinal but also cerebral microvasculature. In this review, we show how the conditions of the retinal microvessels could be used to assess the conditions of brain microvessels because the microvascular network of the retina and brain share, in many aspects, standard features in development, morphology, function, and pathophysiology. Recent techniques and imaging modalities, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), allow more precise visualization of various layers of the retina and its microcirculation, providing a "microscope" to brain microvessels. We also review the potential role of retinal microvessels in the risk identification of cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. The association between vision problems and cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the possible role of retinal microvascular imaging biomarkers in cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative screening, their potentials, and limitations, are also discussed. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Optical imaging of oxidative stress in retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in rodent model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghanian, Zahra; Maleki, Sepideh; Gopalakrishnan, Sandeep; Sepehr, Reyhaneh; Eells, Janis T.; Ranji, Mahsa

2013-02-01

Oxidative stress (OS), which increases during retinal degenerative disorders, contributes to photoreceptor cell loss. The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in the metabolic state of the eye tissue in rodent models of retinitis pigmentosa by using the cryofluorescence imaging technique. The mitochondrial metabolic coenzymes NADH and FADH2 are autofluorescent and can be monitored without exogenous labels using optical techniques. The NADH redox ratio (RR), which is the ratio of the fluorescence intensity of these fluorophores (NADH/FAD), was used as a quantitative diagnostic marker. The NADH RR was examined in an established rodent model of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the P23H rat, and compared to that of control Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and P23H NIR treated rats. Our results demonstrated 24% decrease in the mean NADH RR of the eyes from P23H transgenic rats compared to normal rats and 20% increase in the mean NADH RR of the eyes from the P23H NIR treated rats compared to P23H non-treated rats.

Temporary morphological changes in plus disease induced during contact digital imaging

PubMed Central

Zepeda-Romero, L C; Martinez-Perez, M E; Ruiz-Velasco, S; Ramirez-Ortiz, M A; Gutierrez-Padilla, J A

2011-01-01

Objective To compare and quantify the retinal vascular changes induced by non-intentional pressure contact by digital handheld camera during retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) imaging by means of a computer-based image analysis system, Retinal Image multiScale Analysis. Methods A set of 10 wide-angle retinal pairs of photographs per patient, who underwent routine ROP examinations, was measured. Vascular trees were matched between ‘compression artifact' (absence of the vascular column at the optic nerve) and ‘not compression artifact' conditions. Parameters were analyzed using a two-level linear model for each individual parameter for arterioles and venules separately: integrated curvature (IC), diameter (d), and tortuosity index (TI). Results Images affected with compression artifact showed significant vascular d (P<0.01) changes in both arteries and veins, as well as in artery IC (P<0.05). Vascular TI remained unchanged in both groups. Conclusions Non-adverted corneal pressure with the RetCam lens could compress and decrease intra-arterial diameter or even collapse retinal vessels. Careful attention to technique is essential to avoid absence of the arterial blood column at the optic nerve head that is indicative of increased pressure during imaging. PMID:21760627

Retinal Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drexler, Wolfgang; Fujimoto, James G.

The eye is essentially transparent, transmitting light with only minimal optical attenuation and scattering providing easy optical access to the anterior segment as well as the retina. For this reason, ophthalmic and especially retinal imaging has been not only the first but also most successful clinical application for optical coherence tomography (OCT). This chapter focuses on the development of OCT technology for retinal imaging. OCT has significantly improved the potential for early diagnosis, understanding of retinal disease pathogenesis, as well as monitoring disease progression and response to therapy. Development of ultrabroad bandwidth light sources and high-speed detection techniques has enabled significant improvements in ophthalmic OCT imaging performance, demonstrating the potential of three-dimensional, ultrahigh-resolution OCT (UHR OCT) to perform noninvasive optical biopsy of the living human retina, i.e., the in vivo visualization of microstructural, intraretinal morphology in situ approaching the resolution of conventional histopathology. Significant improvements in axial resolution and speed not only enable three-dimensional rendering of retinal volumes but also high-definition, two-dimensional tomograms, topographic thickness maps of all major intraretinal layers, as well as volumetric quantification of pathologic intraretinal changes. These advances in OCT technology have also been successfully applied in several animal models of retinal pathologies. The development of light sources emitting at alternative wavelengths, e.g., around #1,060 nm, not only enabled three-dimensional OCT imaging with enhanced choroidal visualization but also improved OCT performance in cataract patients due to reduced scattering losses in this wavelength region. Adaptive optics using deformable mirror technology, with unique high stroke to correct higher-order ocular aberrations, with specially designed optics to compensate chromatic aberration of the human eye, in combination with three-dimensional UHR OCT, recently enabled in vivo cellular resolution retinal imaging.

Early simultaneous fundus autofluorescence and optical coherence tomography features after pars plana vitrectomy for primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.

PubMed

Dell'Omo, Roberto; Mura, Marco; Lesnik Oberstein, Sarit Y; Bijl, Heico; Tan, H Stevie

2012-04-01

To describe fundus autofluorescence and optical coherence tomography (OCT) features of the macula after pars plana vitrectomy for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Thirty-three eyes of 33 consecutive patients with repaired rhegmatogenous retinal detachment with or without the involvement of the macula were prospectively investigated with simultaneous fundus autofluorescence and OCT imaging using the Spectralis HRA+OCT (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) within a few weeks after the operation. Fundus autofluorescence imaging of the macula showed lines of increased and decreased autofluorescence in 19 cases (57.6%). On OCT, these lines corresponded to the following abnormalities: outer retinal folds, inner retinal folds, and skip reflectivity abnormalities of the photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment band. Other OCT findings, not related to abnormal lines on fundus autofluorescence, consisted of disruption of photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment band and collection of intraretinal or subretinal fluid. The presence of outer retinal folds significantly related to metamorphopsia but did not relate to poor postoperative visual acuity. Partial-thickness retinal folds occur commonly after vitrectomy for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair and may represent an important anatomical substrate for postoperative metamorphopsia. Fundus autofluorescence and OCT are both sensitive techniques for the detection of these abnormalities.

Application of morphological bit planes in retinal blood vessel extraction.

PubMed

Fraz, M M; Basit, A; Barman, S A

2013-04-01

The appearance of the retinal blood vessels is an important diagnostic indicator of various clinical disorders of the eye and the body. Retinal blood vessels have been shown to provide evidence in terms of change in diameter, branching angles, or tortuosity, as a result of ophthalmic disease. This paper reports the development for an automated method for segmentation of blood vessels in retinal images. A unique combination of methods for retinal blood vessel skeleton detection and multidirectional morphological bit plane slicing is presented to extract the blood vessels from the color retinal images. The skeleton of main vessels is extracted by the application of directional differential operators and then evaluation of combination of derivative signs and average derivative values. Mathematical morphology has been materialized as a proficient technique for quantifying the retinal vasculature in ocular fundus images. A multidirectional top-hat operator with rotating structuring elements is used to emphasize the vessels in a particular direction, and information is extracted using bit plane slicing. An iterative region growing method is applied to integrate the main skeleton and the images resulting from bit plane slicing of vessel direction-dependent morphological filters. The approach is tested on two publicly available databases DRIVE and STARE. Average accuracy achieved by the proposed method is 0.9423 for both the databases with significant values of sensitivity and specificity also; the algorithm outperforms the second human observer in terms of precision of segmented vessel tree.

Optic Disc and Optic Cup Segmentation Methodologies for Glaucoma Image Detection: A Survey

PubMed Central

Almazroa, Ahmed; Burman, Ritambhar; Raahemifar, Kaamran; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

2015-01-01

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of loss of vision in the world. Examining the head of optic nerve (cup-to-disc ratio) is very important for diagnosing glaucoma and for patient monitoring after diagnosis. Images of optic disc and optic cup are acquired by fundus camera as well as Optical Coherence Tomography. The optic disc and optic cup segmentation techniques are used to isolate the relevant parts of the retinal image and to calculate the cup-to-disc ratio. The main objective of this paper is to review segmentation methodologies and techniques for the disc and cup boundaries which are utilized to calculate the disc and cup geometrical parameters automatically and accurately to help the professionals in the glaucoma to have a wide view and more details about the optic nerve head structure using retinal fundus images. We provide a brief description of each technique, highlighting its classification and performance metrics. The current and future research directions are summarized and discussed. PMID:26688751

Integration of retinal image sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ballerini, Lucia

1998-10-01

In this paper a method for noise reduction in ocular fundus image sequences is described. The eye is the only part of the human body where the capillary network can be observed along with the arterial and venous circulation using a non invasive technique. The study of the retinal vessels is very important both for the study of the local pathology (retinal disease) and for the large amount of information it offers on systematic haemodynamics, such as hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and diabetes. In this paper a method for image integration of ocular fundus image sequences is described. The procedure can be divided in two step: registration and fusion. First we describe an automatic alignment algorithm for registration of ocular fundus images. In order to enhance vessel structures, we used a spatially oriented bank of filters designed to match the properties of the objects of interest. To evaluate interframe misalignment we adopted a fast cross-correlation algorithm. The performances of the alignment method have been estimated by simulating shifts between image pairs and by using a cross-validation approach. Then we propose a temporal integration technique of image sequences so as to compute enhanced pictures of the overall capillary network. Image registration is combined with image enhancement by fusing subsequent frames of a same region. To evaluate the attainable results, the signal-to-noise ratio was estimated before and after integration. Experimental results on synthetic images of vessel-like structures with different kind of Gaussian additive noise as well as on real fundus images are reported.

Automatic screening and classification of diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy using fuzzy image processing.

PubMed

Rahim, Sarni Suhaila; Palade, Vasile; Shuttleworth, James; Jayne, Chrisina

2016-12-01

Digital retinal imaging is a challenging screening method for which effective, robust and cost-effective approaches are still to be developed. Regular screening for diabetic retinopathy and diabetic maculopathy diseases is necessary in order to identify the group at risk of visual impairment. This paper presents a novel automatic detection of diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy in eye fundus images by employing fuzzy image processing techniques. The paper first introduces the existing systems for diabetic retinopathy screening, with an emphasis on the maculopathy detection methods. The proposed medical decision support system consists of four parts, namely: image acquisition, image preprocessing including four retinal structures localisation, feature extraction and the classification of diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy. A combination of fuzzy image processing techniques, the Circular Hough Transform and several feature extraction methods are implemented in the proposed system. The paper also presents a novel technique for the macula region localisation in order to detect the maculopathy. In addition to the proposed detection system, the paper highlights a novel online dataset and it presents the dataset collection, the expert diagnosis process and the advantages of our online database compared to other public eye fundus image databases for diabetic retinopathy purposes.

Shift-invariant discrete wavelet transform analysis for retinal image classification.

PubMed

Khademi, April; Krishnan, Sridhar

2007-12-01

This work involves retinal image classification and a novel analysis system was developed. From the compressed domain, the proposed scheme extracts textural features from wavelet coefficients, which describe the relative homogeneity of localized areas of the retinal images. Since the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is shift-variant, a shift-invariant DWT was explored to ensure that a robust feature set was extracted. To combat the small database size, linear discriminant analysis classification was used with the leave one out method. 38 normal and 48 abnormal (exudates, large drusens, fine drusens, choroidal neovascularization, central vein and artery occlusion, histoplasmosis, arteriosclerotic retinopathy, hemi-central retinal vein occlusion and more) were used and a specificity of 79% and sensitivity of 85.4% were achieved (the average classification rate is 82.2%). The success of the system can be accounted to the highly robust feature set which included translation, scale and semi-rotational, features. Additionally, this technique is database independent since the features were specifically tuned to the pathologies of the human eye.

Modern Diagnostic Techniques for the Assessment of Ocular Blood Flow in Myopia: Current State of Knowledge.

PubMed

Grudzińska, Ewa; Modrzejewska, Monika

2018-01-01

Myopia is the most common refractive error and the subject of interest of various studies assessing ocular blood flow. Increasing refractive error and axial elongation of the eye result in the stretching and thinning of the scleral, choroid, and retinal tissues and the decrease in retinal vessel diameter, disturbing ocular blood flow. Local and systemic factors known to change ocular blood flow include glaucoma, medications and fluctuations in intraocular pressure, and metabolic parameters. Techniques and tools assessing ocular blood flow include, among others, laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF), retinal function imager (RFI), laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), pulsatile ocular blood flowmeter (POBF), fundus pulsation amplitude (FPA), colour Doppler imaging (CDI), and Doppler optical coherence tomography (DOCT). Many researchers consistently reported lower blood flow parameters in myopic eyes regardless of the used diagnostic method. It is unclear whether this is a primary change that causes secondary thinning of ocular tissues or quite the opposite; that is, the mechanical stretching of the eye wall reduces its thickness and causes a secondary lower demand of tissues for oxygen. This paper presents a review of studies assessing ocular blood flow in myopes.

Supervised retinal vessel segmentation from color fundus images based on matched filtering and AdaBoost classifier.

PubMed

Memari, Nogol; Ramli, Abd Rahman; Bin Saripan, M Iqbal; Mashohor, Syamsiah; Moghbel, Mehrdad

2017-01-01

The structure and appearance of the blood vessel network in retinal fundus images is an essential part of diagnosing various problems associated with the eyes, such as diabetes and hypertension. In this paper, an automatic retinal vessel segmentation method utilizing matched filter techniques coupled with an AdaBoost classifier is proposed. The fundus image is enhanced using morphological operations, the contrast is increased using contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) method and the inhomogeneity is corrected using Retinex approach. Then, the blood vessels are enhanced using a combination of B-COSFIRE and Frangi matched filters. From this preprocessed image, different statistical features are computed on a pixel-wise basis and used in an AdaBoost classifier to extract the blood vessel network inside the image. Finally, the segmented images are postprocessed to remove the misclassified pixels and regions. The proposed method was validated using publicly accessible Digital Retinal Images for Vessel Extraction (DRIVE), Structured Analysis of the Retina (STARE) and Child Heart and Health Study in England (CHASE_DB1) datasets commonly used for determining the accuracy of retinal vessel segmentation methods. The accuracy of the proposed segmentation method was comparable to other state of the art methods while being very close to the manual segmentation provided by the second human observer with an average accuracy of 0.972, 0.951 and 0.948 in DRIVE, STARE and CHASE_DB1 datasets, respectively.

Detection of retinal capillary nonperfusion in fundus fluorescein angiogram of diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed

Rasta, Seyed Hossein; Nikfarjam, Shima; Javadzadeh, Alireza

2015-01-01

Retinal capillary nonperfusion (CNP) is one of the retinal vascular diseases in diabetic retinopathy (DR) patients. As there is no comprehensive detection technique to recognize CNP areas, we proposed a different method for computing detection of ischemic retina, non-perfused (NP) regions, in fundus fluorescein angiogram (FFA) images. Whilst major vessels appear as ridges, non-perfused areas are usually observed as ponds that are surrounded by healthy capillaries in FFA images. A new technique using homomorphic filtering to correct light illumination and detect the ponds surrounded in healthy capillaries on FFA images was designed and applied on DR fundus images. These images were acquired from the diabetic patients who had referred to the Nikookari hospital and were diagnosed for diabetic retinopathy during one year. Our strategy was screening the whole image with a fixed window size, which is small enough to enclose areas with identified topographic characteristics. To discard false nominees, we also performed a thresholding operation on the screen and marked images. To validate its performance we applied our detection algorithm on 41 FFA diabetic retinopathy fundus images in which the CNP areas were manually delineated by three clinical experts. Lesions were found as smooth regions with very high uniformity, low entropy, and small intensity variations in FFA images. The results of automated detection method were compared with manually marked CNP areas so achieved sensitivity of 81%, specificity of 78%, and accuracy of 91%.The result was present as a Receiver operating character (ROC) curve, which has an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.796 with 95% confidence intervals. This technique introduced a new automated detection algorithm to recognize non-perfusion lesions on FFA. This has potential to assist detecting and managing of ischemic retina and may be incorporated into automated grading diabetic retinopathy structures.

Personal identification based on blood vessels of retinal fundus images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fukuta, Keisuke; Nakagawa, Toshiaki; Hayashi, Yoshinori; Hatanaka, Yuji; Hara, Takeshi; Fujita, Hiroshi

2008-03-01

Biometric technique has been implemented instead of conventional identification methods such as password in computer, automatic teller machine (ATM), and entrance and exit management system. We propose a personal identification (PI) system using color retinal fundus images which are unique to each individual. The proposed procedure for identification is based on comparison of an input fundus image with reference fundus images in the database. In the first step, registration between the input image and the reference image is performed. The step includes translational and rotational movement. The PI is based on the measure of similarity between blood vessel images generated from the input and reference images. The similarity measure is defined as the cross-correlation coefficient calculated from the pixel values. When the similarity is greater than a predetermined threshold, the input image is identified. This means both the input and the reference images are associated to the same person. Four hundred sixty-two fundus images including forty-one same-person's image pairs were used for the estimation of the proposed technique. The false rejection rate and the false acceptance rate were 9.9×10 -5% and 4.3×10 -5%, respectively. The results indicate that the proposed method has a higher performance than other biometrics except for DNA. To be used for practical application in the public, the device which can take retinal fundus images easily is needed. The proposed method is applied to not only the PI but also the system which warns about misfiling of fundus images in medical facilities.

Hyperspectral fundus imager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Truitt, Paul W.; Soliz, Peter; Meigs, Andrew D.; Otten, Leonard John, III

2000-11-01

A Fourier Transform hyperspectral imager was integrated onto a standard clinical fundus camera, a Zeiss FF3, for the purposes of spectrally characterizing normal anatomical and pathological features in the human ocular fundus. To develop this instrument an existing FDA approved retinal camera was selected to avoid the difficulties of obtaining new FDA approval. Because of this, several unusual design constraints were imposed on the optical configuration. Techniques to calibrate the sensor and to define where the hyperspectral pushbroom stripe was located on the retina were developed, including the manufacturing of an artificial eye with calibration features suitable for a spectral imager. In this implementation the Fourier transform hyperspectral imager can collect over a hundred 86 cm-1 spectrally resolved bands with 12 micro meter/pixel spatial resolution within the 1050 nm to 450 nm band. This equates to 2 nm to 8 nm spectral resolution depending on the wavelength. For retinal observations the band of interest tends to lie between 475 nm and 790 nm. The instrument has been in use over the last year successfully collecting hyperspectral images of the optic disc, retinal vessels, choroidal vessels, retinal backgrounds, and macula diabetic macular edema, and lesions of age-related macular degeneration.

Multispectral fundus imaging for early detection of diabetic retinopathy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beach, James M.; Tiedeman, James S.; Hopkins, Mark F.; Sabharwal, Yashvinder S.

1999-04-01

Functional imaging of the retina and associated structures may provide information for early assessment of risks of developing retinopathy in diabetic patients. Here we show results of retinal oximetry performed using multi-spectral reflectance imaging techniques to assess hemoglobin (Hb) oxygen saturation (OS) in blood vessels of the inner retina and oxygen utilization at the optic nerve in diabetic patients without retinopathy and early disease during experimental hyperglycemia. Retinal images were obtained through a fundus camera and simultaneously recorded at up to four wavelengths using image-splitting modules coupled to a digital camera. Changes in OS in large retinal vessels, in average OS in disk tissue, and in the reduced state of cytochrome oxidase (CO) at the disk were determined from changes in reflectance associated with the oxidation/reduction states of Hb and CO. Step to high sugar lowered venous oxygen saturation to a degree dependent on disease duration. Moderate increase in sugar produced higher levels of reduced CO in both the disk and surrounding tissue without a detectable change in average tissue OS. Results suggest that regulation of retinal blood supply and oxygen consumption are altered by hyperglycemia and that such functional changes are present before clinical signs of retinopathy.

Fast ray-tracing of human eye optics on Graphics Processing Units.

PubMed

Wei, Qi; Patkar, Saket; Pai, Dinesh K

2014-05-01

We present a new technique for simulating retinal image formation by tracing a large number of rays from objects in three dimensions as they pass through the optic apparatus of the eye to objects. Simulating human optics is useful for understanding basic questions of vision science and for studying vision defects and their corrections. Because of the complexity of computing such simulations accurately, most previous efforts used simplified analytical models of the normal eye. This makes them less effective in modeling vision disorders associated with abnormal shapes of the ocular structures which are hard to be precisely represented by analytical surfaces. We have developed a computer simulator that can simulate ocular structures of arbitrary shapes, for instance represented by polygon meshes. Topographic and geometric measurements of the cornea, lens, and retina from keratometer or medical imaging data can be integrated for individualized examination. We utilize parallel processing using modern Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to efficiently compute retinal images by tracing millions of rays. A stable retinal image can be generated within minutes. We simulated depth-of-field, accommodation, chromatic aberrations, as well as astigmatism and correction. We also show application of the technique in patient specific vision correction by incorporating geometric models of the orbit reconstructed from clinical medical images. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopic fluorescein angiography and offset pinhole imaging

PubMed Central

Chui, Toco Y. P.; Dubow, Michael; Pinhas, Alexander; Shah, Nishit; Gan, Alexander; Weitz, Rishard; Sulai, Yusufu N.; Dubra, Alfredo; Rosen, Richard B.

2014-01-01

Recent advances to the adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) have enabled finer in vivo assessment of the human retinal microvasculature. AOSLO confocal reflectance imaging has been coupled with oral fluorescein angiography (FA), enabling simultaneous acquisition of structural and perfusion images. AOSLO offset pinhole (OP) imaging combined with motion contrast post-processing techniques, are able to create a similar set of structural and perfusion images without the use of exogenous contrast agent. In this study, we evaluate the similarities and differences of the structural and perfusion images obtained by either method, in healthy control subjects and in patients with retinal vasculopathy including hypertensive retinopathy, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal vein occlusion. Our results show that AOSLO OP motion contrast provides perfusion maps comparable to those obtained with AOSLO FA, while AOSLO OP reflectance images provide additional information such as vessel wall fine structure not as readily visible in AOSLO confocal reflectance images. AOSLO OP offers a non-invasive alternative to AOSLO FA without the need for any exogenous contrast agent. PMID:24761299

New spectral imaging techniques for blood oximetry in the retina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alabboud, Ied; Muyo, Gonzalo; Gorman, Alistair; Mordant, David; McNaught, Andrew; Petres, Clement; Petillot, Yvan R.; Harvey, Andrew R.

2007-07-01

Hyperspectral imaging of the retina presents a unique opportunity for direct and quantitative mapping of retinal biochemistry - particularly of the vasculature where blood oximetry is enabled by the strong variation of absorption spectra with oxygenation. This is particularly pertinent both to research and to clinical investigation and diagnosis of retinal diseases such as diabetes, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. The optimal exploitation of hyperspectral imaging however, presents a set of challenging problems, including; the poorly characterised and controlled optical environment of structures within the retina to be imaged; the erratic motion of the eye ball; and the compounding effects of the optical sensitivity of the retina and the low numerical aperture of the eye. We have developed two spectral imaging techniques to address these issues. We describe first a system in which a liquid crystal tuneable filter is integrated into the illumination system of a conventional fundus camera to enable time-sequential, random access recording of narrow-band spectral images. Image processing techniques are described to eradicate the artefacts that may be introduced by time-sequential imaging. In addition we describe a unique snapshot spectral imaging technique dubbed IRIS that employs polarising interferometry and Wollaston prism beam splitters to simultaneously replicate and spectrally filter images of the retina into multiple spectral bands onto a single detector array. Results of early clinical trials acquired with these two techniques together with a physical model which enables oximetry map are reported.

N-acetylcysteine and acute retinal laser lesions in the colubrid snake eye

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elliott, William R., III; Rentmeister-Bryant, Heike K.; Barsalou, Norman; Beer, Jeremy; Zwick, Harry

2004-07-01

This study examined the role of oxidative stress and the effect of a single dose treatment with N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) on the temporal development of acute laser-induced retinal injury. We used the snake eye/Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (SLO) model, an in vivo, non-invasive ocular imaging technique, which has the ability to image cellular retinal detail and allows for studying morphological changes of retinal injury over time. For this study 12 corn-snakes (Elaphe g. guttata) received 5 laser exposures per eye, followed by either a single dose of the antioxidant NAC (150mg/kg, IP in sterile saline) or placebo. Laser exposures were made with a Nd: VO4 DPSS, 532nm laser, coaxially aligned to the SLO. Shuttered pulses were 20msec x 50 mW; 1mJ each. Retinal images were taken using a Rodenstock cSLO and were digitally recorded at 1, 6, 24-hrs, and at 3-wks post-exposure. Lesions were assessed by two raters blind to the conditions of the study yielding measures of damaged area and counts of missing or damaged photoreceptors. Treated eyes showed a significant beneficial effect overall, and these results suggest that oxidative stress plays a role in laser-induced retinal injury. The use of NAC or a similar antioxidant shows promise as a therapeutic tool.

Automatic retinal blood flow calculation using spectral domain optical coherence tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wehbe, Hassan; Ruggeri, Marco; Jiao, Shuliang; Gregori, Giovanni; Puliafito, Carmen A.

2008-02-01

Optical Doppler tomography (ODT) is a branch of optical coherence tomography (OCT) that can measure the speed of a blood flow by measuring the Doppler shift impinged on the probing sample light by the moving blood cells. However, the measured speed of blood flow is a function of the Doppler angle, which needs to be determined in order to calculate the absolute velocity of the blood flow inside a vessel. We developed a technique that can extract the Doppler angle from the 3D data measured with spectral-domain OCT, which needs to extract the lateral and depth coordinates of a vessel in each measured ODT and OCT image. The lateral coordinates and the diameter of a blood vessel were first extracted in each OCT structural image by using the technique of blood vessel shadowgram, a technique first developed by us for enhancing the retinal blood vessel contrast in the en face view of the 3D OCT. The depth coordinate of a vessel was then determined by using a circular averaging filter moving in the depth direction along the axis passing through the vessel center in the ODT image. The Doppler angle was then calculated from the extracted coordinates of the blood vessel. The technique was applied in blood flow measurements in retinal blood vessels, which has potential impact on the study and diagnosis of blinding diseases like glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

Real-time acquisition and display of flow contrast using speckle variance optical coherence tomography in a graphics processing unit.

PubMed

Xu, Jing; Wong, Kevin; Jian, Yifan; Sarunic, Marinko V

2014-02-01

In this report, we describe a graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated processing platform for real-time acquisition and display of flow contrast images with Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FDOCT) in mouse and human eyes in vivo. Motion contrast from blood flow is processed using the speckle variance OCT (svOCT) technique, which relies on the acquisition of multiple B-scan frames at the same location and tracking the change of the speckle pattern. Real-time mouse and human retinal imaging using two different custom-built OCT systems with processing and display performed on GPU are presented with an in-depth analysis of performance metrics. The display output included structural OCT data, en face projections of the intensity data, and the svOCT en face projections of retinal microvasculature; these results compare projections with and without speckle variance in the different retinal layers to reveal significant contrast improvements. As a demonstration, videos of real-time svOCT for in vivo human and mouse retinal imaging are included in our results. The capability of performing real-time svOCT imaging of the retinal vasculature may be a useful tool in a clinical environment for monitoring disease-related pathological changes in the microcirculation such as diabetic retinopathy.

Negative dysphotopsia: Causes and rationale for prevention and treatment.

PubMed

Holladay, Jack T; Simpson, Michael J

2017-02-01

To determine the cause of negative dysphotopsia using standard ray-tracing techniques and identify the primary and secondary causative factors. Department of Ophthalmology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. Experimental study. Zemax ray-tracing software was used to evaluate pseudophakic and phakic eye models to show the location of retinal field images from various visual field objects. Phakic retinal field angles (RFAs) were used as a reference for the perceived field locations for retinal images in pseudophakic eyes. In a nominal acrylic pseudophakic eye model with a 2.5 mm diameter pupil, the maximum RFA from rays refracted by the intraocular lens (IOL) was 85.7 degrees and the minimum RFA for rays missing the optic of the IOL was 88.3 degrees, leaving a dark gap (shadow) of 2.6 degrees in the extreme temporal field. The width of the shadow was more prominent for a smaller pupil, a larger angle kappa, an equi-biconvex or plano-convex IOL shape, and a smaller axial distance from iris to IOL and with the anterior capsule overlying the nasal IOL. Secondary factors included IOL edge design, material, diameter, decentration, tilt, and aspheric surfaces. Standard ray-tracing techniques showed that a shadow is present when there is a gap between the retinal images formed by rays missing the optic of the IOL and rays refracted by the IOL. Primary and secondary factors independently affected the width and location of the gap (or overlap). The ray tracing also showed a constriction and double retinal imaging in the extreme temporal visual field. Copyright © 2017 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

High-Resolution Images of Retinal Structure in Patients with Choroideremia

PubMed Central

Syed, Reema; Sundquist, Sanna M.; Ratnam, Kavitha; Zayit-Soudry, Shiri; Zhang, Yuhua; Crawford, J. Brooks; MacDonald, Ian M.; Godara, Pooja; Rha, Jungtae; Carroll, Joseph; Roorda, Austin; Stepien, Kimberly E.; Duncan, Jacque L.

2013-01-01

Purpose. To study retinal structure in choroideremia patients and carriers using high-resolution imaging techniques. Methods. Subjects from four families (six female carriers and five affected males) with choroideremia (CHM) were characterized with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), kinetic and static perimetry, full-field electroretinography, and fundus autofluorescence (FAF). High-resolution macular images were obtained with adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Coding regions of the CHM gene were sequenced. Results. Molecular analysis of the CHM gene identified a deletion of exons 9 to 15 in family A, a splice site mutation at position 79+1 of exon 1 in family B, deletion of exons 6 to 8 in family C, and a substitution at position 106 causing a premature stop in family D. BCVA ranged from 20/16 to 20/63 in carriers and from 20/25 to 5/63 in affected males. FAF showed abnormalities in all subjects. SD-OCT showed outer retinal layer loss, outer retinal tubulations at the margin of outer retinal loss, and inner retinal microcysts. Patchy cone loss was present in two symptomatic carriers. In two affected males, cone mosaics were disrupted with increased cone spacing near the fovea but more normal cone spacing near the edge of atrophy. Conclusions. High-resolution retinal images in CHM carriers and affected males demonstrated RPE and photoreceptor cell degeneration. As both RPE and photoreceptor cells were affected, these cell types may degenerate simultaneously in CHM. These findings provide insight into the effect of CHM mutations on macular retinal structure, with implications for the development of treatments for CHM. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00254605.) PMID:23299470

High-resolution images of retinal structure in patients with choroideremia.

PubMed

Syed, Reema; Sundquist, Sanna M; Ratnam, Kavitha; Zayit-Soudry, Shiri; Zhang, Yuhua; Crawford, J Brooks; MacDonald, Ian M; Godara, Pooja; Rha, Jungtae; Carroll, Joseph; Roorda, Austin; Stepien, Kimberly E; Duncan, Jacque L

2013-02-01

To study retinal structure in choroideremia patients and carriers using high-resolution imaging techniques. Subjects from four families (six female carriers and five affected males) with choroideremia (CHM) were characterized with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), kinetic and static perimetry, full-field electroretinography, and fundus autofluorescence (FAF). High-resolution macular images were obtained with adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Coding regions of the CHM gene were sequenced. Molecular analysis of the CHM gene identified a deletion of exons 9 to 15 in family A, a splice site mutation at position 79+1 of exon 1 in family B, deletion of exons 6 to 8 in family C, and a substitution at position 106 causing a premature stop in family D. BCVA ranged from 20/16 to 20/63 in carriers and from 20/25 to 5/63 in affected males. FAF showed abnormalities in all subjects. SD-OCT showed outer retinal layer loss, outer retinal tubulations at the margin of outer retinal loss, and inner retinal microcysts. Patchy cone loss was present in two symptomatic carriers. In two affected males, cone mosaics were disrupted with increased cone spacing near the fovea but more normal cone spacing near the edge of atrophy. High-resolution retinal images in CHM carriers and affected males demonstrated RPE and photoreceptor cell degeneration. As both RPE and photoreceptor cells were affected, these cell types may degenerate simultaneously in CHM. These findings provide insight into the effect of CHM mutations on macular retinal structure, with implications for the development of treatments for CHM. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00254605.).

Contemporary retinal imaging techniques in diabetic retinopathy: a review.

PubMed

Cole, Emily Dawn; Novais, Eduardo Amorim; Louzada, Ricardo Noguera; Waheed, Nadia K

2016-05-01

Over the last decade, there has been an expansion of imaging modalities available to clinicians to diagnose and monitor the treatment and progression of diabetic retinopathy. Recently, advances in image technologies related to OCT and OCT angiography have enabled improved visualization and understanding of this disease. In this review, we will describe the use of imaging techniques such as colour fundus photography, fundus autofluorescence, fluorescein angiography, infrared reflectance imaging, OCT, OCT-Angiography and techniques in adaptive optics and hyperspectral imaging in the diagnosis and management of diabetic retinopathy. © 2016 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.

Hessian-LoG filtering for enhancement and detection of photoreceptor cells in adaptive optics retinal images.

PubMed

Lazareva, Anfisa; Liatsis, Panos; Rauscher, Franziska G

2016-01-01

Automated analysis of retinal images plays a vital role in the examination, diagnosis, and prognosis of healthy and pathological retinas. Retinal disorders and the associated visual loss can be interpreted via quantitative correlations, based on measurements of photoreceptor loss. Therefore, it is important to develop reliable tools for identification of photoreceptor cells. In this paper, an automated algorithm is proposed, based on the use of the Hessian-Laplacian of Gaussian filter, which allows enhancement and detection of photoreceptor cells. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated on both synthetic and high-resolution retinal images, in terms of packing density. The results on the synthetic data were compared against ground truth as well as cone counts obtained by the Li and Roorda algorithm. For the synthetic datasets, our method showed an average detection accuracy of 98.8%, compared to 93.9% for the Li and Roorda approach. The packing density estimates calculated on the retinal datasets were validated against manual counts and the results obtained by a proprietary software from Imagine Eyes and the Li and Roorda algorithm. Among the tested methods, the proposed approach showed the closest agreement with manual counting.

Twelve-hour reproducibility of retinal and optic nerve blood flow parameters in healthy individuals.

PubMed

Luksch, Alexandra; Lasta, Michael; Polak, Kaija; Fuchsjäger-Mayrl, Gabriele; Polska, Elzbieta; Garhöfer, Gerhard; Schmetterer, Leopold

2009-11-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the reproducibility and potential diurnal variation of optic nerve head and retinal blood flow parameters in healthy individuals over a period of 12 hr. We measured optic nerve head and retinal blood flow parameters in 16 healthy male non-smoking individuals at five time-points during the day (08:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00 and 20:00 hr). Outcome parameters were perimacular white blood cell flux (as assessed with the blue field entoptic technique), blood velocities in retinal veins (as assessed with bi-directional laser Doppler velocimetry), retinal arterial and venous diameters (as assessed with the retinal vessel analyser), optic nerve head blood flow, volume and velocity (as assessed with single point and scanning laser Doppler flowmetry) and blood velocities in the central retinal artery (as assessed with colour Doppler imaging). The coefficient of variation and the maximum change from baseline in an individual were calculated for each outcome parameter. No diurnal variation in optic nerve head or retinal blood flow was observed with any of the techniques employed. Coefficients of variation were between 1.6% and 18.5% for all outcome parameters. The maximum change from baseline in an individual was much higher, ranging from 3.7% to 78.2%. Our data indicate that in healthy individuals the selected techniques provide adequate reproducibility to be used in clinical studies. However, in patients with eye diseases and reduced vision the reproducibility may be considerably worse.

Portable retinal imaging for eye disease screening using a consumer-grade digital camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barriga, Simon; Larichev, Andrey; Zamora, Gilberto; Soliz, Peter

2012-03-01

The development of affordable means to image the retina is an important step toward the implementation of eye disease screening programs. In this paper we present the i-RxCam, a low-cost, hand-held, retinal camera for widespread applications such as tele-retinal screening for eye diseases like diabetic retinopathy (DR), glaucoma, and age-related ocular diseases. Existing portable retinal imagers do not meet the requirements of a low-cost camera with sufficient technical capabilities (field of view, image quality, portability, battery power, and ease-of-use) to be distributed widely to low volume clinics, such as the offices of single primary care physicians serving rural communities. The i-RxCam uses a Nikon D3100 digital camera body. The camera has a CMOS sensor with 14.8 million pixels. We use a 50mm focal lens that gives a retinal field of view of 45 degrees. The internal autofocus can compensate for about 2D (diopters) of focusing error. The light source is an LED produced by Philips with a linear emitting area that is transformed using a light pipe to the optimal shape at the eye pupil, an annulus. To eliminate corneal reflex we use a polarization technique in which the light passes through a nano-wire polarizer plate. This is a novel type of polarizer featuring high polarization separation (contrast ratio of more than 1000) and very large acceptance angle (>45 degrees). The i-RxCam approach will yield a significantly more economical retinal imaging device that would allow mass screening of the at-risk population.

Automated retinal layer segmentation and characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luisi, Jonathan; Briley, David; Boretsky, Adam; Motamedi, Massoud

2014-05-01

Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) is a valuable diagnostic tool in both clinical and research settings. The depth-resolved intensity profiles generated by light backscattered from discrete layers of the retina provide a non-invasive method of investigating progressive diseases and injury within the eye. This study demonstrates the application of steerable convolution filters capable of automatically separating gradient orientations to identify edges and delineate tissue boundaries. The edge maps were recombined to measure thickness of individual retinal layers. This technique was successfully applied to longitudinally monitor changes in retinal morphology in a mouse model of laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and human data from age-related macular degeneration patients. The steerable filters allow for direct segmentation of noisy images, while novel recombination of weaker segmentations allow for denoising post-segmentation. The segmentation before denoising strategy allows the rapid detection of thin retinal layers even under suboptimal imaging conditions.

Retinal Information Processing for Minimum Laser Lesion Detection and Cumulative Damage

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-09-17

TAL3Unaqr~orJ:ccd [] J ,;--Wicic tion --------------... MYRON....... . ................... ... ....... ...........................MYRON L. WOLBARSHT B D ist...possible beneficial visual function of the small retinal image movements. B . Visual System Models Prior models of visual system information processing have...against standard secondary sources whose calibrations can be traced to the National Bureau of Standards. B . Electrophysiological Techniques Extracellular

Automatic segmentation of nine retinal layer boundaries in OCT images of non-exudative AMD patients using deep learning and graph search

PubMed Central

Fang, Leyuan; Cunefare, David; Wang, Chong; Guymer, Robyn H.; Li, Shutao; Farsiu, Sina

2017-01-01

We present a novel framework combining convolutional neural networks (CNN) and graph search methods (termed as CNN-GS) for the automatic segmentation of nine layer boundaries on retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. CNN-GS first utilizes a CNN to extract features of specific retinal layer boundaries and train a corresponding classifier to delineate a pilot estimate of the eight layers. Next, a graph search method uses the probability maps created from the CNN to find the final boundaries. We validated our proposed method on 60 volumes (2915 B-scans) from 20 human eyes with non-exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which attested to effectiveness of our proposed technique. PMID:28663902

Automatic segmentation of nine retinal layer boundaries in OCT images of non-exudative AMD patients using deep learning and graph search.

PubMed

Fang, Leyuan; Cunefare, David; Wang, Chong; Guymer, Robyn H; Li, Shutao; Farsiu, Sina

2017-05-01

We present a novel framework combining convolutional neural networks (CNN) and graph search methods (termed as CNN-GS) for the automatic segmentation of nine layer boundaries on retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. CNN-GS first utilizes a CNN to extract features of specific retinal layer boundaries and train a corresponding classifier to delineate a pilot estimate of the eight layers. Next, a graph search method uses the probability maps created from the CNN to find the final boundaries. We validated our proposed method on 60 volumes (2915 B-scans) from 20 human eyes with non-exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which attested to effectiveness of our proposed technique.

Validating Retinal Fundus Image Analysis Algorithms: Issues and a Proposal

PubMed Central

Trucco, Emanuele; Ruggeri, Alfredo; Karnowski, Thomas; Giancardo, Luca; Chaum, Edward; Hubschman, Jean Pierre; al-Diri, Bashir; Cheung, Carol Y.; Wong, Damon; Abràmoff, Michael; Lim, Gilbert; Kumar, Dinesh; Burlina, Philippe; Bressler, Neil M.; Jelinek, Herbert F.; Meriaudeau, Fabrice; Quellec, Gwénolé; MacGillivray, Tom; Dhillon, Bal

2013-01-01

This paper concerns the validation of automatic retinal image analysis (ARIA) algorithms. For reasons of space and consistency, we concentrate on the validation of algorithms processing color fundus camera images, currently the largest section of the ARIA literature. We sketch the context (imaging instruments and target tasks) of ARIA validation, summarizing the main image analysis and validation techniques. We then present a list of recommendations focusing on the creation of large repositories of test data created by international consortia, easily accessible via moderated Web sites, including multicenter annotations by multiple experts, specific to clinical tasks, and capable of running submitted software automatically on the data stored, with clear and widely agreed-on performance criteria, to provide a fair comparison. PMID:23794433

Design of Content Based Image Retrieval Scheme for Diabetic Retinopathy Images using Harmony Search Algorithm.

PubMed

Sivakamasundari, J; Natarajan, V

2015-01-01

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a disorder that affects the structure of retinal blood vessels due to long-standing diabetes mellitus. Automated segmentation of blood vessel is vital for periodic screening and timely diagnosis. An attempt has been made to generate continuous retinal vasculature for the design of Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) application. The typical normal and abnormal retinal images are preprocessed to improve the vessel contrast. The blood vessels are segmented using evolutionary based Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA) combined with Otsu Multilevel Thresholding (MLT) method by best objective functions. The segmentation results are validated with corresponding ground truth images using binary similarity measures. The statistical, textural and structural features are obtained from the segmented images of normal and DR affected retina and are analyzed. CBIR in medical image retrieval applications are used to assist physicians in clinical decision-support techniques and research fields. A CBIR system is developed using HSA based Otsu MLT segmentation technique and the features obtained from the segmented images. Similarity matching is carried out between the features of query and database images using Euclidean Distance measure. Similar images are ranked and retrieved. The retrieval performance of CBIR system is evaluated in terms of precision and recall. The CBIR systems developed using HSA based Otsu MLT and conventional Otsu MLT methods are compared. The retrieval performance such as precision and recall are found to be 96% and 58% for CBIR system using HSA based Otsu MLT segmentation. This automated CBIR system could be recommended for use in computer assisted diagnosis for diabetic retinopathy screening.

Deblurring adaptive optics retinal images using deep convolutional neural networks.

PubMed

Fei, Xiao; Zhao, Junlei; Zhao, Haoxin; Yun, Dai; Zhang, Yudong

2017-12-01

The adaptive optics (AO) can be used to compensate for ocular aberrations to achieve near diffraction limited high-resolution retinal images. However, many factors such as the limited aberration measurement and correction accuracy with AO, intraocular scatter, imaging noise and so on will degrade the quality of retinal images. Image post processing is an indispensable and economical method to make up for the limitation of AO retinal imaging procedure. In this paper, we proposed a deep learning method to restore the degraded retinal images for the first time. The method directly learned an end-to-end mapping between the blurred and restored retinal images. The mapping was represented as a deep convolutional neural network that was trained to output high-quality images directly from blurry inputs without any preprocessing. This network was validated on synthetically generated retinal images as well as real AO retinal images. The assessment of the restored retinal images demonstrated that the image quality had been significantly improved.

Deblurring adaptive optics retinal images using deep convolutional neural networks

PubMed Central

Fei, Xiao; Zhao, Junlei; Zhao, Haoxin; Yun, Dai; Zhang, Yudong

2017-01-01

The adaptive optics (AO) can be used to compensate for ocular aberrations to achieve near diffraction limited high-resolution retinal images. However, many factors such as the limited aberration measurement and correction accuracy with AO, intraocular scatter, imaging noise and so on will degrade the quality of retinal images. Image post processing is an indispensable and economical method to make up for the limitation of AO retinal imaging procedure. In this paper, we proposed a deep learning method to restore the degraded retinal images for the first time. The method directly learned an end-to-end mapping between the blurred and restored retinal images. The mapping was represented as a deep convolutional neural network that was trained to output high-quality images directly from blurry inputs without any preprocessing. This network was validated on synthetically generated retinal images as well as real AO retinal images. The assessment of the restored retinal images demonstrated that the image quality had been significantly improved. PMID:29296496

Identification of suitable fundus images using automated quality assessment methods.

PubMed

Şevik, Uğur; Köse, Cemal; Berber, Tolga; Erdöl, Hidayet

2014-04-01

Retinal image quality assessment (IQA) is a crucial process for automated retinal image analysis systems to obtain an accurate and successful diagnosis of retinal diseases. Consequently, the first step in a good retinal image analysis system is measuring the quality of the input image. We present an approach for finding medically suitable retinal images for retinal diagnosis. We used a three-class grading system that consists of good, bad, and outlier classes. We created a retinal image quality dataset with a total of 216 consecutive images called the Diabetic Retinopathy Image Database. We identified the suitable images within the good images for automatic retinal image analysis systems using a novel method. Subsequently, we evaluated our retinal image suitability approach using the Digital Retinal Images for Vessel Extraction and Standard Diabetic Retinopathy Database Calibration level 1 public datasets. The results were measured through the F1 metric, which is a harmonic mean of precision and recall metrics. The highest F1 scores of the IQA tests were 99.60%, 96.50%, and 85.00% for good, bad, and outlier classes, respectively. Additionally, the accuracy of our suitable image detection approach was 98.08%. Our approach can be integrated into any automatic retinal analysis system with sufficient performance scores.

Crowdsourcing as a novel technique for retinal fundus photography classification: analysis of images in the EPIC Norfolk cohort on behalf of the UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium.

PubMed

Mitry, Danny; Peto, Tunde; Hayat, Shabina; Morgan, James E; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Foster, Paul J

2013-01-01

Crowdsourcing is the process of outsourcing numerous tasks to many untrained individuals. Our aim was to assess the performance and repeatability of crowdsourcing for the classification of retinal fundus photography. One hundred retinal fundus photograph images with pre-determined disease criteria were selected by experts from a large cohort study. After reading brief instructions and an example classification, we requested that knowledge workers (KWs) from a crowdsourcing platform classified each image as normal or abnormal with grades of severity. Each image was classified 20 times by different KWs. Four study designs were examined to assess the effect of varying incentive and KW experience in classification accuracy. All study designs were conducted twice to examine repeatability. Performance was assessed by comparing the sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Without restriction on eligible participants, two thousand classifications of 100 images were received in under 24 hours at minimal cost. In trial 1 all study designs had an AUC (95%CI) of 0.701(0.680-0.721) or greater for classification of normal/abnormal. In trial 1, the highest AUC (95%CI) for normal/abnormal classification was 0.757 (0.738-0.776) for KWs with moderate experience. Comparable results were observed in trial 2. In trial 1, between 64-86% of any abnormal image was correctly classified by over half of all KWs. In trial 2, this ranged between 74-97%. Sensitivity was ≥ 96% for normal versus severely abnormal detections across all trials. Sensitivity for normal versus mildly abnormal varied between 61-79% across trials. With minimal training, crowdsourcing represents an accurate, rapid and cost-effective method of retinal image analysis which demonstrates good repeatability. Larger studies with more comprehensive participant training are needed to explore the utility of this compelling technique in large scale medical image analysis.

Characteristics of exudative age-related macular degeneration determined in vivo with confocal and indirect infrared imaging.

PubMed

Hartnett, M E; Elsner, A E

1996-01-01

To evaluate the current and future interventions in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), it is essential to delineate the early clinical features associated with later visual loss. The authors describe the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)/Bruch membrane region in ten patients with advance exudative AMD using current angiographic techniques and a noninvasive method: infrared (IR) imaging with the scanning laser ophthalmoscope. Ten patients with exudative AMD, evidence by choroidal neovascularization (CNV), fibrovascular scar formation, pigment epithelial detachment, or serous subretinal fluid,were examined using IR imaging, fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, and stereoscopic viewing of fundus slides. The authors determined the number and size of drusen and subretinal deposits and the topographic character of the RPE/Bruch membrane area and of CNV. In all patients, IR imaging yielded the greatest number of drusen and subretinal deposits. Sheets of subretinal material, but few lesions consistent with soft drusen, were seen. Infrared imaging provided topographic information of evolving CNV. Choroidal neovascularization appeared as a complex with a dark central core, an enveloping reflective structure which created a halo-like appearance in the plane of focus, and outer retinal/subretinal striae. Infrared imaging provides a noninvasive, in vivo method to image early changes in the RPE/Bruch membrane. It offers advantages over current imaging techniques by minimizing light scatter through cloudy media and enhancing the ability to image through small pupils, retinal hyperpigmentation, blood, heavy exudation, or subretinal fluid. It provides additional information regarding early CNV, and the character of drusen and subretinal deposits.

Adaptive optics optical coherence tomography with dynamic retinal tracking

PubMed Central

Kocaoglu, Omer P.; Ferguson, R. Daniel; Jonnal, Ravi S.; Liu, Zhuolin; Wang, Qiang; Hammer, Daniel X.; Miller, Donald T.

2014-01-01

Adaptive optics optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) is a highly sensitive and noninvasive method for three dimensional imaging of the microscopic retina. Like all in vivo retinal imaging techniques, however, it suffers the effects of involuntary eye movements that occur even under normal fixation. In this study we investigated dynamic retinal tracking to measure and correct eye motion at KHz rates for AO-OCT imaging. A customized retina tracking module was integrated into the sample arm of the 2nd-generation Indiana AO-OCT system and images were acquired on three subjects. Analyses were developed based on temporal amplitude and spatial power spectra in conjunction with strip-wise registration to independently measure AO-OCT tracking performance. After optimization of the tracker parameters, the system was found to correct eye movements up to 100 Hz and reduce residual motion to 10 µm root mean square. Between session precision was 33 µm. Performance was limited by tracker-generated noise at high temporal frequencies. PMID:25071963

Layer-specific blood-flow MRI of retinitis pigmentosa in RCS rats☆

PubMed Central

Li, Guang; Garza, Bryan De La; Shih, Yen-Yu I.; Muir, Eric R.; Duong, Timothy Q.

2013-01-01

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat is an established animal model of retinitis pigmentosa, a family of inherited retinal diseases which starts with loss of peripheral vision and progresses to eventual blindness. Blood flow (BF), an important physiological parameter, is intricately coupled to metabolic function under normal physiological conditions and is perturbed in many neurological and retinal diseases. This study reports non-invasive high-resolution MRI (44 × 44 × 600 μm) to image quantitative retinal and choroidal BF and layer-specific retinal thicknesses in RCS rat retinas at different stages of retinal degeneration compared with age-matched controls. The unique ability to separate retinal and choroidal BF was made possible by the depth-resolved MRI technique. RBF decreased with progressive retinal degeneration, but ChBF did not change in RCS rats up to post-natal day 90. We concluded that choroidal and retinal circulations have different susceptibility to progressive retinal degeneration in RCS rats. Layer-specific retinal thickness became progressively thinner and was corroborated by histological analysis in the same animals. MRI can detect progressive anatomical and BF changes during retinal degeneration with laminar resolution. PMID:22721720

Layer-specific blood-flow MRI of retinitis pigmentosa in RCS rats.

PubMed

Li, Guang; De La Garza, Bryan; Shih, Yen-Yu I; Muir, Eric R; Duong, Timothy Q

2012-08-01

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat is an established animal model of retinitis pigmentosa, a family of inherited retinal diseases which starts with loss of peripheral vision and progresses to eventual blindness. Blood flow (BF), an important physiological parameter, is intricately coupled to metabolic function under normal physiological conditions and is perturbed in many neurological and retinal diseases. This study reports non-invasive high-resolution MRI (44 × 44 × 600 μm) to image quantitative retinal and choroidal BF and layer-specific retinal thicknesses in RCS rat retinas at different stages of retinal degeneration compared with age-matched controls. The unique ability to separate retinal and choroidal BF was made possible by the depth-resolved MRI technique. RBF decreased with progressive retinal degeneration, but ChBF did not change in RCS rats up to post-natal day 90. We concluded that choroidal and retinal circulations have different susceptibility to progressive retinal degeneration in RCS rats. Layer-specific retinal thickness became progressively thinner and was corroborated by histological analysis in the same animals. MRI can detect progressive anatomical and BF changes during retinal degeneration with laminar resolution. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Functional imaging of hemodynamic stimulus response in the rat retina with ultrahigh-speed spectral / Fourier domain OCT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, WooJhon; Baumann, Bernhard; Clermont, Allen C.; Feener, Edward P.; Boas, David A.; Fujimoto, James G.

2013-03-01

Measuring retinal hemodynamics in response to flicker stimulus is important for investigating pathophysiology in small animal models of diabetic retinopathy, because a reduction in the hyperemic response is thought to be one of the earliest changes in diabetic retinopathy. In this study, we investigated functional imaging of retinal hemodynamics in response to flicker stimulus in the rat retina using an ultrahigh speed spectral / Fourier domain OCT system at 840nm with an axial scan rate of 244kHz. At 244kHz the nominal axial velocity range that could be measured without phase wrapping was +/-37.7mm/s. Pulsatile total retinal arterial blood flow as a function of time was measured using an en face Doppler approach where a 200μm × 200μm area centered at the central retinal artery was repeatedly raster scanned at a volume acquisition rate of 55Hz. Three-dimensional capillary imaging was performed using speckle decorrelation which has minimal angle dependency compared to other angiography techniques based on OCT phase information. During OCT imaging, a flicker stimulus could be applied to the retina synchronously by inserting a dichroic mirror in the imaging interface. An acute transient increase in total retinal blood flow could be detected. At the capillary level, an increase in the degree of speckle decorrelation in capillary OCT angiography images could also be observed, which indicates an increase in the velocity of blood at the capillary level. This method promises to be useful for the investigation of small animal models of ocular diseases.

EN FACE IMAGING OF RETINAL ARTERY MACROANEURYSMS USING SWEPT-SOURCE OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY.

PubMed

Hanhart, Joel; Strassman, Israel; Rozenman, Yaakov

2017-01-01

To describe the advantages of en face view with swept-source optical coherence tomography in assessing the morphologic features of retinal arterial macroaneurysms, their consequences on adjacent retina, planning laser treatment, and evaluating its effects. Three eyes were treated for retinal arterial macroaneurysms and followed by swept-source optical coherence tomography in 2014-2015. En face images of the retina and choroid were obtained by EnView, a swept-source optical coherence tomography program. Retinal arterial macroaneurysms have a typical optical coherence tomography appearance. En face view allows delineation of the macroaneurysm wall, thrombotic components within the dilation, and lumen measurement. Hemorrhage, lipids, and fluids can be precisely described in terms of amount and extent over the macula and depth. This technique is also practical for planning focal laser treatment and determining its effects. En face swept-source optical coherence tomography is a rapid, noninvasive, high-resolution, promising technology, which allows excellent visualization of retinal arterial macroaneurysms and their consequences on surrounding tissues. It could make angiography with intravenous injection redundant in planning and assessing therapy.

Optic disc segmentation: level set methods and blood vessels inpainting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Almazroa, A.; Sun, Weiwei; Alodhayb, Sami; Raahemifar, Kaamran; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

2017-03-01

Segmenting the optic disc (OD) is an important and essential step in creating a frame of reference for diagnosing optic nerve head (ONH) pathology such as glaucoma. Therefore, a reliable OD segmentation technique is necessary for automatic screening of ONH abnormalities. The main contribution of this paper is in presenting a novel OD segmentation algorithm based on applying a level set method on a localized OD image. To prevent the blood vessels from interfering with the level set process, an inpainting technique is applied. The algorithm is evaluated using a new retinal fundus image dataset called RIGA (Retinal Images for Glaucoma Analysis). In the case of low quality images, a double level set is applied in which the first level set is considered to be a localization for the OD. Five hundred and fifty images are used to test the algorithm accuracy as well as its agreement with manual markings by six ophthalmologists. The accuracy of the algorithm in marking the optic disc area and centroid is 83.9%, and the best agreement is observed between the results of the algorithm and manual markings in 379 images.

MUW Approach of PS OCT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hitzenberger, Christoph K.; Pircher, Michael

Polarization sensitive (PS) OCT is a functional extension of OCT that exploits the light's polarization state to generate intrinsic, tissue specific contrast and enables quantitative measurements of tissue parameters. This chapter explains the technique, discusses polarization-changing light-tissue interactions and demonstrates the application of PS-OCT to retinal imaging. Two polarization-changing light-tissue interactions are discussed and their use for retinal diagnostics are demonstrated: (i) birefringence, which is found in fibrous tissues like the retinal nerve fiber layer and can be used for glaucoma diagnostics; and (ii) depolarization, which is observed in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and can be used to segment the RPE and associated lesions like drusen or geographic atrophies in age related macular degeneration.

The application of optical coherence tomography angiography in retinal diseases.

PubMed

Sambhav, Kumar; Grover, Sandeep; Chalam, Kakarla V

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a new, noninvasive imaging technique that generates real-time volumetric data on chorioretinal vasculature and its flow pattern. With the advent of high-speed optical coherence tomography, established enface chorioretinal segmentation, and efficient algorithms, OCTA generates images that resemble an angiogram. The principle of OCTA involves determining the change in backscattering between consecutive B-scans and then attributing the differences to the flow of erythrocytes through retinal blood vessels. OCTA has shown promise in the evaluation of common ophthalmologic diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and retinal vascular occlusions. It quantifies vascular compromise reflecting the severity of diabetic retinopathy. OCTA detects the presence of choroidal neovascularization in exudative age-related macular degeneration and maps loss of choriocapillaris in nonexudative age-related macular degeneration. We describe principles of OCTA and findings in common and some uncommon retinal pathologies. Finally, we summarize its potential future applications. Its current limitations include a relatively small field of view, inability to show leakage, and a tendency for image artifacts. Further larger studies will define OCTAs utility in clinical settings and establish if the technology may offer its utility in decreasing morbidity through early detection and guide therapeutic interventions in retinal diseases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Selective Thinning of the Perifoveal Inner Retina as an Early Sign of Hydroxychloroquine Retinal Toxicity

PubMed Central

Pasadhika, Sirichai; Fishman, Gerald A; Choi, Dongseok; Shahidi, Mahnaz

2013-01-01

Purpose To evaluate macular thickness profiles using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) and image segmentation in patients with chronic exposure to hydroxychloroquine. Methods This study included 8 patients with chronic exposure to hydroxychloroquine (Group 1) and 8 controls (Group 2). Group 1 patients had no clinically-evident retinal toxicity. All subjects underwent SDOCT imaging of the macula. An image segmentation technique was used to measure thickness of 6 retinal layers at 200 µm intervals. A mixed-effects model was used for multivariate analysis. Results By measuring total retinal thickness either at the central macular (2800 µm in diameter), the perifoveal region 1200-µm-width ring surrounding the central macula), or the overall macular area (5200 µm in diameter), there were no significant differences in the thickness between Groups 1 and 2. On an image segmentation analysis, selective thinning of the inner plexiform + ganglion cell layers (p=0.021) was observed only in the perifoveal area of the patients in Group 1 compared to that of Group 2 by using the mixed-effects model analysis. Conclusions Our results suggest that chronic exposure to hydroxychloroquine is associated with thinning of the perifoveal inner retinal layers, especially in the ganglion cell and inner plexiform layers, even in the absence of functional or structural clinical changes involving the photoreceptor or retinal pigment epithelial cell layers. This may be a contributing factor as the reason most patients who have early detectable signs of drug toxicity present with paracentral or pericentral scotomas. PMID:20395978

Spectral autofluorescence imaging of the retina for drusen detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foubister, James J.; Gorman, Alistair; Harvey, Andy; Hemert, Jano van

2018-02-01

The presence and characteristics of drusen in retinal images, namely their size, location, and distribution, can be used to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD); one of the leading causes for blindness in the elderly population. Current imaging techniques are effective at determining the presence and number of drusen, but fail when it comes to classifying their size and form. These distinctions are important for correctly characterising the disease, especially in the early stages where the development of just one larger drusen can indicate progression. Another challenge for automated detection is in distinguishing them from other retinal features, such as cotton wool spots. We describe the development of a multi-spectral scanning-laser ophthalmoscope that records images of retinal autofluorescence (AF) in four spectral bands. This will offer the potential to detect drusen with improved contrast based on spectral discrimination for automated classification. The resulting improved specificity and sensitivity for their detection offers more reliable characterisation of AMD. We present proof of principle images prior to further system optimisation and clinical trials for assessment of enhanced detection of drusen.

Registration of adaptive optics corrected retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) images

PubMed Central

Ramaswamy, Gomathy; Lombardo, Marco; Devaney, Nicholas

2014-01-01

Glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the western world. Investigation of high-resolution retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) images in patients may lead to new indicators of its onset. Adaptive optics (AO) can provide diffraction-limited images of the retina, providing new opportunities for earlier detection of neuroretinal pathologies. However, precise processing is required to correct for three effects in sequences of AO-assisted, flood-illumination images: uneven illumination, residual image motion and image rotation. This processing can be challenging for images of the RNFL due to their low contrast and lack of clearly noticeable features. Here we develop specific processing techniques and show that their application leads to improved image quality on the nerve fiber bundles. This in turn improves the reliability of measures of fiber texture such as the correlation of Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). PMID:24940551

Registration of adaptive optics corrected retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) images.

PubMed

Ramaswamy, Gomathy; Lombardo, Marco; Devaney, Nicholas

2014-06-01

Glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the western world. Investigation of high-resolution retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) images in patients may lead to new indicators of its onset. Adaptive optics (AO) can provide diffraction-limited images of the retina, providing new opportunities for earlier detection of neuroretinal pathologies. However, precise processing is required to correct for three effects in sequences of AO-assisted, flood-illumination images: uneven illumination, residual image motion and image rotation. This processing can be challenging for images of the RNFL due to their low contrast and lack of clearly noticeable features. Here we develop specific processing techniques and show that their application leads to improved image quality on the nerve fiber bundles. This in turn improves the reliability of measures of fiber texture such as the correlation of Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM).

Measurement and correction of transverse chromatic offsets for multi-wavelength retinal microscopy in the living eye.

PubMed

Harmening, Wolf M; Tiruveedhula, Pavan; Roorda, Austin; Sincich, Lawrence C

2012-09-01

A special challenge arises when pursuing multi-wavelength imaging of retinal tissue in vivo, because the eye's optics must be used as the main focusing elements, and they introduce significant chromatic dispersion. Here we present an image-based method to measure and correct for the eye's transverse chromatic aberrations rapidly, non-invasively, and with high precision. We validate the technique against hyperacute psychophysical performance and the standard chromatic human eye model. In vivo correction of chromatic dispersion will enable confocal multi-wavelength images of the living retina to be aligned, and allow targeted chromatic stimulation of the photoreceptor mosaic to be performed accurately with sub-cellular resolution.

Measurement and correction of transverse chromatic offsets for multi-wavelength retinal microscopy in the living eye

PubMed Central

Harmening, Wolf M.; Tiruveedhula, Pavan; Roorda, Austin; Sincich, Lawrence C.

2012-01-01

A special challenge arises when pursuing multi-wavelength imaging of retinal tissue in vivo, because the eye’s optics must be used as the main focusing elements, and they introduce significant chromatic dispersion. Here we present an image-based method to measure and correct for the eye’s transverse chromatic aberrations rapidly, non-invasively, and with high precision. We validate the technique against hyperacute psychophysical performance and the standard chromatic human eye model. In vivo correction of chromatic dispersion will enable confocal multi-wavelength images of the living retina to be aligned, and allow targeted chromatic stimulation of the photoreceptor mosaic to be performed accurately with sub-cellular resolution. PMID:23024901

A Comprehensive Study of Retinal Vessel Classification Methods in Fundus Images

PubMed Central

Miri, Maliheh; Amini, Zahra; Rabbani, Hossein; Kafieh, Raheleh

2017-01-01

Nowadays, it is obvious that there is a relationship between changes in the retinal vessel structure and diseases such as diabetic, hypertension, stroke, and the other cardiovascular diseases in adults as well as retinopathy of prematurity in infants. Retinal fundus images provide non-invasive visualization of the retinal vessel structure. Applying image processing techniques in the study of digital color fundus photographs and analyzing their vasculature is a reliable approach for early diagnosis of the aforementioned diseases. Reduction in the arteriolar–venular ratio of retina is one of the primary signs of hypertension, diabetic, and cardiovascular diseases which can be calculated by analyzing the fundus images. To achieve a precise measuring of this parameter and meaningful diagnostic results, accurate classification of arteries and veins is necessary. Classification of vessels in fundus images faces with some challenges that make it difficult. In this paper, a comprehensive study of the proposed methods for classification of arteries and veins in fundus images is presented. Considering that these methods are evaluated on different datasets and use different evaluation criteria, it is not possible to conduct a fair comparison of their performance. Therefore, we evaluate the classification methods from modeling perspective. This analysis reveals that most of the proposed approaches have focused on statistics, and geometric models in spatial domain and transform domain models have received less attention. This could suggest the possibility of using transform models, especially data adaptive ones, for modeling of the fundus images in future classification approaches. PMID:28553578

Snapshot hyperspectral retinal imaging using compact spectral resolving detector array.

PubMed

Li, Hao; Liu, Wenzhong; Dong, Biqin; Kaluzny, Joel V; Fawzi, Amani A; Zhang, Hao F

2017-06-01

Hyperspectral retinal imaging captures the light spectrum from each imaging pixel. It provides spectrally encoded retinal physiological and morphological information, which could potentially benefit diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of retinal diseases. The key challenges in hyperspectral retinal imaging are how to achieve snapshot imaging to avoid motions between the images from multiple spectral bands, and how to design a compact snapshot imager suitable for clinical use. Here, we developed a compact, snapshot hyperspectral fundus camera for rodents using a novel spectral resolving detector array (SRDA), on which a thin-film Fabry-Perot cavity filter was monolithically fabricated on each imaging pixel. We achieved hyperspectral retinal imaging with 16 wavelength bands (460 to 630 nm) at 20 fps. We also demonstrated false-color vessel contrast enhancement and retinal oxygen saturation (sO 2 ) measurement through spectral analysis. This work could potentially bring hyperspectral retinal imaging from bench to bedside. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Autofluorescence Imaging With Near-Infrared Excitation:Normalization by Reflectance to Reduce Signal From Choroidal Fluorophores

PubMed Central

Cideciyan, Artur V.; Swider, Malgorzata; Jacobson, Samuel G.

2015-01-01

Purpose. We previously developed reduced-illuminance autofluorescence imaging (RAFI) methods involving near-infrared (NIR) excitation to image melanin-based fluorophores and short-wavelength (SW) excitation to image lipofuscin-based flurophores. Here, we propose to normalize NIR-RAFI in order to increase the relative contribution of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) fluorophores. Methods. Retinal imaging was performed with a standard protocol holding system parameters invariant in healthy subjects and in patients. Normalized NIR-RAFI was derived by dividing NIR-RAFI signal by NIR reflectance point-by-point after image registration. Results. Regions of RPE atrophy in Stargardt disease, AMD, retinitis pigmentosa, choroideremia, and Leber congenital amaurosis as defined by low signal on SW-RAFI could correspond to a wide range of signal on NIR-RAFI depending on the contribution from the choroidal component. Retinal pigment epithelium atrophy tended to always correspond to high signal on NIR reflectance. Normalizing NIR-RAFI reduced the choroidal component of the signal in regions of atrophy. Quantitative evaluation of RPE atrophy area showed no significant differences between SW-RAFI and normalized NIR-RAFI. Conclusions. Imaging of RPE atrophy using lipofuscin-based AF imaging has become the gold standard. However, this technique involves bright SW lights that are uncomfortable and may accelerate the rate of disease progression in vulnerable retinas. The NIR-RAFI method developed here is a melanin-based alternative that is not absorbed by opsins and bisretinoid moieties, and is comfortable to view. Further development of this method may result in a nonmydriatic and comfortable imaging method to quantify RPE atrophy extent and its expansion rate. PMID:26024124

Imaging retinal degeneration in mice by combining Fourier domain optical coherence tomography and fluorescent scanning laser ophthalmoscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hossein-Javaheri, Nima; Molday, Laurie L.; Xu, Jing; Molday, Robert S.; Sarunic, Marinko V.

2009-02-01

Visualization of the internal structures of the retina is critical for clinical diagnosis and monitoring of pathology as well as for medical research investigating the root causes of retinal degeneration. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is emerging as the preferred technique for non-contact sub-surface depth-resolved imaging of the retina. The high resolution cross sectional images acquired in vivo by OCT can be compared to histology to visually delineate the retinal layers. The recent demonstration of the significant sensitivity increase obtained through use of Fourier domain (FD) detection with OCT has been used to facilitate high speed scanning for volumetric reconstruction of the retina in software. The images acquired by OCT are purely structural, relying on refractive index differences in the tissue for contrast, and do not provide information on the molecular content of the sample. We have constructed a FDOCT prototype and combined it with a fluorescent Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (fSLO) to permit real time alignment of the field of view on the retina. The alignment of the FDOCT system to the specimen is crucial for the registration of measurements taken throughout longitudinal studies. In addition, fluorescence detection has been integrated with the SLO to enable the en face localization of a molecular contrast signal, which is important for retinal angiography, and also for detection of autofluorescence associated with some forms of retinal degeneration, for example autofluorescence lipofuscin accumulations are associated with Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy. The integrated FD OCT/fSLO system was investigated for imaging the retina of the mice in vivo.

Low-cost, high-resolution scanning laser ophthalmoscope for the clinical environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soliz, P.; Larichev, A.; Zamora, G.; Murillo, S.; Barriga, E. S.

2010-02-01

Researchers have sought to gain greater insight into the mechanisms of the retina and the optic disc at high spatial resolutions that would enable the visualization of small structures such as photoreceptors and nerve fiber bundles. The sources of retinal image quality degradation are aberrations within the human eye, which limit the achievable resolution and the contrast of small image details. To overcome these fundamental limitations, researchers have been applying adaptive optics (AO) techniques to correct for the aberrations. Today, deformable mirror based adaptive optics devices have been developed to overcome the limitations of standard fundus cameras, but at prices that are typically unaffordable for most clinics. In this paper we demonstrate a clinically viable fundus camera with auto-focus and astigmatism correction that is easy to use and has improved resolution. We have shown that removal of low-order aberrations results in significantly better resolution and quality images. Additionally, through the application of image restoration and super-resolution techniques, the images present considerably improved quality. The improvements lead to enhanced visualization of retinal structures associated with pathology.

Multicolor Scanning Laser Imaging in Diabetic Retinopathy.

PubMed

Ahmad, Mohammad S Z; Carrim, Zia Iqbal

2017-11-01

Diabetic retinopathy is a common cause of blindness in individuals younger than 60 years. Screening for retinopathy is undertaken using conventional color fundus photography and relies on the identification of hemorrhages, vascular abnormalities, exudates, and cotton-wool spots. These can sometimes be difficult to identify. Multicolor scanning laser imaging, a new imaging modality, may have a role in improving screening outcomes, as well as facilitating treatment decisions. Observational case series comprising two patients with known diabetes who were referred for further examination after color fundus photography revealed abnormal findings. Multicolor scanning laser imaging was undertaken. Features of retinal disease from each modality were compared. Multicolor scanning laser imaging provides superior visualization of retinal anatomy and pathology, thereby facilitating risk stratification and treatment decisions. Multicolor scanning laser imaging is a novel imaging technique offering the potential for improving the reliability of screening for diabetic retinopathy. Validation studies are warranted.

New Ways to Detect Pediatric Sickle Cell Retinopathy: A Comprehensive Review.

PubMed

Pahl, Daniel A; Green, Nancy S; Bhatia, Monica; Chen, Royce W S

2017-11-01

Sickle retinopathy reflects disease-related vascular injury of the eye, which can potentially result in visual loss from vitreous hemorrhage or retinal detachment. Here we review sickle retinopathy among children with sickle cell disease, describe the epidemiology, pediatric risk factors, pathophysiology, ocular findings, and treatment. Newer, more sensitive ophthalmological imaging modalities are available for retinal imaging, including ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, and optical coherence tomography angiography. Optical coherence tomography angiography provides a noninvasive view of retinal vascular layers that could previously not be imaged and can be quantified for comparative or prospective analyses. Ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography provides a more comprehensive view of the peripheral retina than traditional imaging techniques. Screening for retinopathy by standard fundoscopic imaging modalities detects a prevalence of approximately 10%. In contrast, these more sensitive methods allow for more sensitive examination that includes the retina perimeter where sickle retinopathy is often first detectable. Use of these new imaging modalities may detect a higher prevalence of early sickle pathology among children than has previously been reported. Earlier detection may help in better understanding the pathogenesis of sickle retinopathy and guide future screening and treatment paradigms.

Retinal angiography with real-time speckle variance optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Xu, Jing; Han, Sherry; Balaratnasingam, Chandrakumar; Mammo, Zaid; Wong, Kevin S K; Lee, Sieun; Cua, Michelle; Young, Mei; Kirker, Andrew; Albiani, David; Forooghian, Farzin; Mackenzie, Paul; Merkur, Andrew; Yu, Dao-Yi; Sarunic, Marinko V

2015-10-01

This report describes a novel, non-invasive and label-free optical imaging technique, speckle variance optical coherence tomography (svOCT), for visualising blood flow within human retinal capillary networks. This imaging system uses a custom-built swept source OCT system operating at a line rate of 100 kHz. Real-time processing and visualisation is implemented on a consumer grade graphics processing unit. To investigate the quality of microvascular detail acquired with this device we compared images of human capillary networks acquired with svOCT and fluorescein angiography. We found that the density of capillary microvasculature acquired with this svOCT device was visibly greater than fluorescein angiography. We also found that this svOCT device had the capacity to generate en face images of distinct capillary networks that are morphologically comparable with previously published histological studies. Finally, we found that this svOCT device has the ability to non-invasively illustrate the common manifestations of diabetic retinopathy and retinal vascular occlusion. The results of this study suggest that graphics processing unit accelerated svOCT has the potential to non-invasively provide useful quantitative information about human retinal capillary networks. Therefore svOCT may have clinical and research applications for the management of retinal microvascular diseases, which are a major cause of visual morbidity worldwide. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

MULTIMODAL IMAGING OF SYPHILITIC MULTIFOCAL RETINITIS.

PubMed

Curi, Andre L; Sarraf, David; Cunningham, Emmett T

2015-01-01

To describe multimodal imaging of syphilitic multifocal retinitis. Observational case series. Two patients developed multifocal retinitis after treatment of unrecognized syphilitic uveitis with systemic corticosteroids in the absence of appropriate antibiotic therapy. Multimodal imaging localized the foci of retinitis within the retina in contrast to superficial retinal precipitates that accumulate on the surface of the retina in eyes with untreated syphilitic uveitis. Although the retinitis resolved after treatment with systemic penicillin in both cases, vision remained poor in the patient with multifocal retinitis involving the macula. Treatment of unrecognized syphilitic uveitis with corticosteroids in the absence of antitreponemal treatment can lead to the development of multifocal retinitis. Multimodal imaging, and optical coherence tomography in particular, can be used to distinguish multifocal retinitis from superficial retinal precipitates or accumulations.

Comparison of a digital retinal imaging system and seven-field stereo color fundus photography to detect diabetic retinopathy in the primary care environment.

PubMed

Schiffman, Rhett M; Jacobsen, Gordon; Nussbaum, Julian J; Desai, Uday R; Carey, J David; Glasser, David; Zimmer-Galler, Ingrid E; Zeimer, Ran; Goldberg, Morton F

2005-01-01

Because patients with diabetes mellitus may visit their primary care physician regularly but not their ophthalmologist, a retinal risk assessment in the primary care setting could improve the screening rate for diabetic retinopathy. An imaging system for use in the primary care setting to identify diabetic retinopathy requiring referral to an ophthalmologist was evaluated. In a masked prospective study, images were obtained from 11 patients with diabetes mellitus using both the digital retinal imaging system and seven-field stereo color fundus photography. The ability to obtain gradable images and to identify diabetic retinal lesions was compared. Of all images, 85% of digital retinal imaging system images and 88% of seven-field images were gradable. Agreement based on "no retinopathy" versus "any retinopathy" was excellent (Kappa = 0.96). Agreement based on "microaneurysms or less retinopathy" versus "retinal hemorrhages or worse retinopathy" was very good (Kappa = 0.83). The agreement between the digital retinal imaging system and seven-field photography indicates that the digital retinal imaging system may be useful to screen for diabetic retinopathy.

The Accuracy and Reliability of Crowdsource Annotations of Digital Retinal Images

PubMed Central

Mitry, Danny; Zutis, Kris; Dhillon, Baljean; Peto, Tunde; Hayat, Shabina; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Morgan, James E.; Moncur, Wendy; Trucco, Emanuele; Foster, Paul J.

2016-01-01

Purpose Crowdsourcing is based on outsourcing computationally intensive tasks to numerous individuals in the online community who have no formal training. Our aim was to develop a novel online tool designed to facilitate large-scale annotation of digital retinal images, and to assess the accuracy of crowdsource grading using this tool, comparing it to expert classification. Methods We used 100 retinal fundus photograph images with predetermined disease criteria selected by two experts from a large cohort study. The Amazon Mechanical Turk Web platform was used to drive traffic to our site so anonymous workers could perform a classification and annotation task of the fundus photographs in our dataset after a short training exercise. Three groups were assessed: masters only, nonmasters only and nonmasters with compulsory training. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots for all classifications compared to expert grading, and used the Dice coefficient and consensus threshold to assess annotation accuracy. Results In total, we received 5389 annotations for 84 images (excluding 16 training images) in 2 weeks. A specificity and sensitivity of 71% (95% confidence interval [CI], 69%–74%) and 87% (95% CI, 86%–88%) was achieved for all classifications. The AUC in this study for all classifications combined was 0.93 (95% CI, 0.91–0.96). For image annotation, a maximal Dice coefficient (∼0.6) was achieved with a consensus threshold of 0.25. Conclusions This study supports the hypothesis that annotation of abnormalities in retinal images by ophthalmologically naive individuals is comparable to expert annotation. The highest AUC and agreement with expert annotation was achieved in the nonmasters with compulsory training group. Translational Relevance The use of crowdsourcing as a technique for retinal image analysis may be comparable to expert graders and has the potential to deliver timely, accurate, and cost-effective image analysis. PMID:27668130

The Accuracy and Reliability of Crowdsource Annotations of Digital Retinal Images.

PubMed

Mitry, Danny; Zutis, Kris; Dhillon, Baljean; Peto, Tunde; Hayat, Shabina; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Morgan, James E; Moncur, Wendy; Trucco, Emanuele; Foster, Paul J

2016-09-01

Crowdsourcing is based on outsourcing computationally intensive tasks to numerous individuals in the online community who have no formal training. Our aim was to develop a novel online tool designed to facilitate large-scale annotation of digital retinal images, and to assess the accuracy of crowdsource grading using this tool, comparing it to expert classification. We used 100 retinal fundus photograph images with predetermined disease criteria selected by two experts from a large cohort study. The Amazon Mechanical Turk Web platform was used to drive traffic to our site so anonymous workers could perform a classification and annotation task of the fundus photographs in our dataset after a short training exercise. Three groups were assessed: masters only, nonmasters only and nonmasters with compulsory training. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots for all classifications compared to expert grading, and used the Dice coefficient and consensus threshold to assess annotation accuracy. In total, we received 5389 annotations for 84 images (excluding 16 training images) in 2 weeks. A specificity and sensitivity of 71% (95% confidence interval [CI], 69%-74%) and 87% (95% CI, 86%-88%) was achieved for all classifications. The AUC in this study for all classifications combined was 0.93 (95% CI, 0.91-0.96). For image annotation, a maximal Dice coefficient (∼0.6) was achieved with a consensus threshold of 0.25. This study supports the hypothesis that annotation of abnormalities in retinal images by ophthalmologically naive individuals is comparable to expert annotation. The highest AUC and agreement with expert annotation was achieved in the nonmasters with compulsory training group. The use of crowdsourcing as a technique for retinal image analysis may be comparable to expert graders and has the potential to deliver timely, accurate, and cost-effective image analysis.

Imaging and quantifying ganglion cells and other transparent neurons in the living human retina.

PubMed

Liu, Zhuolin; Kurokawa, Kazuhiro; Zhang, Furu; Lee, John J; Miller, Donald T

2017-11-28

Ganglion cells (GCs) are fundamental to retinal neural circuitry, processing photoreceptor signals for transmission to the brain via their axons. However, much remains unknown about their role in vision and their vulnerability to disease leading to blindness. A major bottleneck has been our inability to observe GCs and their degeneration in the living human eye. Despite two decades of development of optical technologies to image cells in the living human retina, GCs remain elusive due to their high optical translucency. Failure of conventional imaging-using predominately singly scattered light-to reveal GCs has led to a focus on multiply-scattered, fluorescence, two-photon, and phase imaging techniques to enhance GC contrast. Here, we show that singly scattered light actually carries substantial information that reveals GC somas, axons, and other retinal neurons and permits their quantitative analysis. We perform morphometry on GC layer somas, including projection of GCs onto photoreceptors and identification of the primary GC subtypes, even beneath nerve fibers. We obtained singly scattered images by: ( i ) marrying adaptive optics to optical coherence tomography to avoid optical blurring of the eye; ( ii ) performing 3D subcellular image registration to avoid motion blur; and ( iii ) using organelle motility inside somas as an intrinsic contrast agent. Moreover, through-focus imaging offers the potential to spatially map individual GCs to underlying amacrine, bipolar, horizontal, photoreceptor, and retinal pigment epithelium cells, thus exposing the anatomical substrate for neural processing of visual information. This imaging modality is also a tool for improving clinical diagnosis and assessing treatment of retinal disease. Copyright © 2017 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope using liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulator: Performance study with involuntary eye movement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Hongxin; Toyoda, Haruyoshi; Inoue, Takashi

2017-09-01

The performance of an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AO-SLO) using a liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulator and Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor was investigated. The system achieved high-resolution and high-contrast images of human retinas by dynamic compensation for the aberrations in the eyes. Retinal structures such as photoreceptor cells, blood vessels, and nerve fiber bundles, as well as blood flow, could be observed in vivo. We also investigated involuntary eye movements and ascertained microsaccades and drifts using both the retinal images and the aberrations recorded simultaneously. Furthermore, we measured the interframe displacement of retinal images and found that during eye drift, the displacement has a linear relationship with the residual low-order aberration. The estimated duration and cumulative displacement of the drift were within the ranges estimated by a video tracking technique. The AO-SLO would not only be used for the early detection of eye diseases, but would also offer a new approach for involuntary eye movement research.

Active learning methods for interactive image retrieval.

PubMed

Gosselin, Philippe Henri; Cord, Matthieu

2008-07-01

Active learning methods have been considered with increased interest in the statistical learning community. Initially developed within a classification framework, a lot of extensions are now being proposed to handle multimedia applications. This paper provides algorithms within a statistical framework to extend active learning for online content-based image retrieval (CBIR). The classification framework is presented with experiments to compare several powerful classification techniques in this information retrieval context. Focusing on interactive methods, active learning strategy is then described. The limitations of this approach for CBIR are emphasized before presenting our new active selection process RETIN. First, as any active method is sensitive to the boundary estimation between classes, the RETIN strategy carries out a boundary correction to make the retrieval process more robust. Second, the criterion of generalization error to optimize the active learning selection is modified to better represent the CBIR objective of database ranking. Third, a batch processing of images is proposed. Our strategy leads to a fast and efficient active learning scheme to retrieve sets of online images (query concept). Experiments on large databases show that the RETIN method performs well in comparison to several other active strategies.

[Retinal vessels before and after photocoagulation in diabetic retinopathy. Determining the diameter using digitized color fundus slides].

PubMed

Remky, A; Arend, O; Beausencourt, E; Elsner, A E; Bertram, B

1996-01-01

Retinal vessel diameter is an important parameter in blood flow analysis. Despite modern digital image technology, most clinical studies investigate diameters subjectively using projected fundus slides or negatives. In the present study we used a technique to examine vessel diameters by digital image analysis of color fundus slides. We investigated in a retrospective manner diameter changes in twenty diabetic patients before and after panretinal laser coagulation. Color fundus slides were digitized by a new high resolution scanning device. The resulting images consisted in three channels (red, green, blue). Since vessel contrast was the highest in the green channel, we assessed grey value profiles perpendicular to the vessels in the green channel. Diameters were measured at the half-height of the profile. After panretinal laser coagulation, average venous diameter was decreased, whereas arterial diameter remained unchanged. There was no significant relation between the diameter change and the number of laser burns or the presence of neovascularization. Splitting digitized images into color planes enables objective measurements of retinal diameters in conventional color slides.

Prewarping techniques in imaging: applications in nanotechnology and biotechnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poonawala, Amyn; Milanfar, Peyman

2005-03-01

In all imaging systems, the underlying process introduces undesirable distortions that cause the output signal to be a warped version of the input. When the input to such systems can be controlled, pre-warping techniques can be employed which consist of systematically modifying the input such that it cancels out (or compensates for) the process losses. In this paper, we focus on the mask (reticle) design problem for 'optical micro-lithography', a process similar to photographic printing used for transferring binary circuit patterns onto silicon wafers. We use a pixel-based mask representation and model the above process as a cascade of convolution (aerial image formation) and thresholding (high-contrast recording) operations. The pre-distorted mask is obtained by minimizing the norm of the difference between the 'desired' output image and the 'reproduced' output image. We employ the regularization framework to ensure that the resulting masks are close-to-binary as well as simple and easy to fabricate. Finally, we provide insight into two additional applications of pre-warping techniques. First is 'e-beam lithography', used for fabricating nano-scale structures, and second is 'electronic visual prosthesis' which aims at providing limited vision to the blind by using a prosthetic retinally implanted chip capable of electrically stimulating the retinal neuron cells.

Magnetomotive imaging of iron oxide nanoparticles as cellular contrast agents for optical coherence tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cimalla, Peter; Werner, Theresa; Gaertner, Maria; Mueller, Claudia; Walther, Julia; Wittig, Dierk; Ader, Marius; Karl, Mike; Koch, Edmund

2013-06-01

Recent studies in animal models provided proof-of-principle evidence for cell transplantation as a potential future therapeutic approach for retinal pathologies in humans such as Retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration. In this case, donor cells are injected into the eye in order to protect or replace degenerating photoreceptors or retinal pigment epithelium. However, currently there is no three-dimensional imaging technique available that allows tracking of cell migration and integration into the host tissue under in vivo conditions. Therefore, we investigate about magnetomotive optical coherence tomography (OCT) of substances labeled with iron oxide nanoparticles as a potential method for noninvasive, three-dimensional cell tracking in the retina. We use a self-developed spectral domain OCT system for high-resolution imaging in the 800 nm-wavelength region. A suitable AC magnetic field for magnetomotive imaging was generated using two different setups, which consist of an electrically driven solenoid in combination with a permanent magnet, and a mechanically driven all-permanent magnet configuration. In the sample region the maximum magnetic flux density was 100 mT for both setups, with a field gradient of 9 T/m and 13 T/m for the solenoid and the allpermanent magnet setup, respectively. Magnetomotive OCT imaging was performed in elastic tissue phantoms and single cells labeled with iron oxide nanoparticles. Particle-induced sub-resolution movement of the elastic samples and the single cells could successfully be detected and visualized by means of phase-resolved Doppler OCT analysis. Therefore, this method is a potential technique to enhance image contrast of specific cells in OCT.

Imaging polarimetry and retinal blood vessel quantification at the epiretinal membrane

PubMed Central

Miura, Masahiro; Elsner, Ann E.; Cheney, Michael C.; Usui, Masahiko; Iwasaki, Takuya

2007-01-01

We evaluated a polarimetry method to enhance retinal blood vessels masked by the epiretinal membrane. Depolarized light images were computed by removing the polarization retaining light reaching the instrument and were compared with parallel polarized light images, average reflectance images, and the corresponding images at 514 nm. Contrasts were computed for retinal vessel profiles for arteries and veins. Contrasts were higher in the 514 nm images in normal eyes but higher in the depolarized light image in the eyes with epiretinal membranes. Depolarized light images were useful for examining the retinal vasculature in the presence of retinal disease. PMID:17429490

Imaging polarimetry of macular disease

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miura, Masahiro; Elsner, Ann E.; Petrig, Benno L.; VanNasdale, Dean A.; Zhao, Yanming; Iwasaki, Takuya

2008-02-01

Polarization properties of the human eye have long been used to study the tissues of the human retina, as well as to improve retinal imaging, and several new technologies using polarized light are in use or under development. 1-8 The most typical polarimetry technique in ophthalmology clinic is a scanning laser polarimetry for the glaucoma diagnosis. 1,2 In the original conceptualization, the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer is estimated using the birefringent component of light returning from the ocular fundus. More recently, customized software to analyze data from scanning laser polarimetry was developed to investigate the polarization properties of the macular disease. 5-8 In this study, we analyzed macular disease with imaging polarimetry, which provides a method for the noninvasive assessment of macular disease.

Ocular Screening System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

Used to detect eye problems in children through analysis of retinal reflexes, the system incorporates image processing techniques. VISISCREEN's photorefractor is basically a 35 millimeter camera with a telephoto lens and an electronic flash. By making a color photograph, the system can test the human eye for refractive error and obstruction in the cornea or lens. Ocular alignment problems are detected by imaging both eyes simultaneously. Electronic flash sends light into the eyes and the light is reflected from the retina back to the camera lens. Photorefractor analyzes the retinal reflexes generated by the subject's response to the flash and produces an image of the subject's eyes in which the pupils are variously colored. The nature of a defect, where such exists, is identifiable by atrained observer's visual examination.

Instant electronic imaging systems are superior to Polaroid at detecting sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed

Ryder, R E; Kong, N; Bates, A S; Sim, J; Welch, J; Kritzinger, E E

1998-03-01

Polaroid photography in diabetic retinopathy screening allows instant image availability to enhance the results of ophthalmoscopy. Retinal cameras are now being developed which use video/digital imaging techniques to produce an instant enlarged retinal image on a computer monitor screen. We aimed to compare one such electronic imaging system, attached to a Canon CR5 45NM, with standard Polaroid retinal photography. Two hundred and thirteen eyes from 107 diabetic patients were photographed through dilated pupils by both systems in random order and the images were analysed blind. Diabetic retinopathy was present in 58 eyes of which 55/58 (95%) were detected on the electronic image and only 49/58 (84%) on the Polaroid. Of 34 eyes requiring ophthalmologist referral according to standard European criteria, 34/34 (100%) were detected on the electronic image and only 24/34 (71%) on the Polaroid. Side by side comparisons showed electronic imaging to be superior to Polaroid at lesion detection. Using linear analogue scales, the patients assessed the electronic imaging photographic flash as less uncomfortable than the Polaroid equivalent (p < 0.0001). Other advantages of electronic imaging include: ready storage of the images with other patient clinical data on the diabetes computerized register/database; potential for image enhancement and analysis using image analysis software and electronic transfer of images to ophthalmologist or general practitioner. Electronic imaging systems represent a potential major advance for the improvement of diabetic retinopathy screening.

Multi-categorical deep learning neural network to classify retinal images: A pilot study employing small database.

PubMed

Choi, Joon Yul; Yoo, Tae Keun; Seo, Jeong Gi; Kwak, Jiyong; Um, Terry Taewoong; Rim, Tyler Hyungtaek

2017-01-01

Deep learning emerges as a powerful tool for analyzing medical images. Retinal disease detection by using computer-aided diagnosis from fundus image has emerged as a new method. We applied deep learning convolutional neural network by using MatConvNet for an automated detection of multiple retinal diseases with fundus photographs involved in STructured Analysis of the REtina (STARE) database. Dataset was built by expanding data on 10 categories, including normal retina and nine retinal diseases. The optimal outcomes were acquired by using a random forest transfer learning based on VGG-19 architecture. The classification results depended greatly on the number of categories. As the number of categories increased, the performance of deep learning models was diminished. When all 10 categories were included, we obtained results with an accuracy of 30.5%, relative classifier information (RCI) of 0.052, and Cohen's kappa of 0.224. Considering three integrated normal, background diabetic retinopathy, and dry age-related macular degeneration, the multi-categorical classifier showed accuracy of 72.8%, 0.283 RCI, and 0.577 kappa. In addition, several ensemble classifiers enhanced the multi-categorical classification performance. The transfer learning incorporated with ensemble classifier of clustering and voting approach presented the best performance with accuracy of 36.7%, 0.053 RCI, and 0.225 kappa in the 10 retinal diseases classification problem. First, due to the small size of datasets, the deep learning techniques in this study were ineffective to be applied in clinics where numerous patients suffering from various types of retinal disorders visit for diagnosis and treatment. Second, we found that the transfer learning incorporated with ensemble classifiers can improve the classification performance in order to detect multi-categorical retinal diseases. Further studies should confirm the effectiveness of algorithms with large datasets obtained from hospitals.

Characteristics of retinal reflectance changes induced by transcorneal electrical stimulation in cat eyes.

PubMed

Morimoto, Takeshi; Kanda, Hiroyuki; Miyoshi, Tomomitsu; Hirohara, Yoko; Mihashi, Toshifumi; Kitaguchi, Yoshiyuki; Nishida, Kohji; Fujikado, Takashi

2014-01-01

Transcorneal electrical stimulation (TES) activates retinal neurons leading to visual sensations. How the retinal cells are activated by TES has not been definitively determined. Investigating the reflectance changes of the retina is an established technique and has been used to determine the mechanism of retinal activation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reflectance changes elicited by TES in cat eyes. Eight eyes of Eight cats were studied under general anesthesia. Biphasic electrical pulses were delivered transcornealy. The fundus images observed with near-infrared light (800-880 nm) were recorded every 25 ms for 26 s. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio, the images of 10 consecutive recordings were averaged. Two-dimensional topographic maps of the reflective changes were constructed by subtracting images before from those after the TES. The effects of different stimulus parameters, e.g., current intensity, pulse duration, frequency, and stimulus duration, on the reflective changes were studied. Our results showed that after TES, the reflective changes appeared on the retinal vessels and optic disc. The intensity of reflectance changes increased as the current intensity, pulse duration, and stimulation duration increased (P<0.05 for all). The maximum intensity of the reflective change was obtained when the stimulus frequency was 20 Hz. The time course of the reflectance changes was also altered by the stimulation parameters. The response started earlier and returned to the baseline later with higher current intensities, longer pulse durations, but the time of the peak of the response was not changed. These results showed that the reflective changes were due to the activation of retinal neurons by TES and might involve the vascular changes induced by an activation of the retinal neurons.

Spectrally optimal illuminations for diabetic retinopathy detection in retinal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartczak, Piotr; Fält, Pauli; Penttinen, Niko; Ylitepsa, Pasi; Laaksonen, Lauri; Lensu, Lasse; Hauta-Kasari, Markku; Uusitalo, Hannu

2017-04-01

Retinal photography is a standard method for recording retinal diseases for subsequent analysis and diagnosis. However, the currently used white light or red-free retinal imaging does not necessarily provide the best possible visibility of different types of retinal lesions, important when developing diagnostic tools for handheld devices, such as smartphones. Using specifically designed illumination, the visibility and contrast of retinal lesions could be improved. In this study, spectrally optimal illuminations for diabetic retinopathy lesion visualization are implemented using a spectrally tunable light source based on digital micromirror device. The applicability of this method was tested in vivo by taking retinal monochrome images from the eyes of five diabetic volunteers and two non-diabetic control subjects. For comparison to existing methods, we evaluated the contrast of retinal images taken with our method and red-free illumination. The preliminary results show that the use of optimal illuminations improved the contrast of diabetic lesions in retinal images by 30-70%, compared to the traditional red-free illumination imaging.

The Portable Dynamic Fundus Instrument: Uses in telemedicine and research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunter, Norwood; Caputo, Michael; Billica, Roger; Taylor, Gerald; Gibson, C. Robert; Manuel, F. Keith; Mader, Thomas; Meehan, Richard

1994-01-01

For years ophthalmic photographs have been used to track the progression of many ocular diseases such as macular degeneration and glaucoma as well as the ocular manifestations of diabetes, hypertension, and hypoxia. In 1987 a project was initiated at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to develop a means of monitoring retinal vascular caliber and intracranial pressure during space flight. To conduct telemedicine during space flight operations, retinal images would require real-time transmissions from space. Film-based images would not be useful during in-flight operations. Video technology is beneficial in flight because the images may be acquired, recorded, and transmitted to the ground for rapid computer digital image processing and analysis. The computer analysis techniques developed for this project detected vessel caliber changes as small as 3 percent. In the field of telemedicine, the Portable Dynamic Fundus Instrument demonstrates the concept and utility of a small, self-contained video funduscope. It was used to record retinal images during the Gulf War and to transmit retinal images from the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-50. There are plans to utilize this device to provide a mobile ophthalmic screening service in rural Texas. In the fall of 1993 a medical team in Boulder, Colorado, will transmit real-time images of the retina during remote consultation and diagnosis. The research applications of this device include the capability of operating in remote locations or small, confined test areas. There has been interest shown utilizing retinal imaging during high-G centrifuge tests, high-altitude chamber tests, and aircraft flight tests. A new design plan has been developed to incorporate the video instrumentation into face-mounted goggle. This design would eliminate head restraint devices, thus allowing full maneuverability to the subjects. Further development of software programs will broaden the application of the Portable Dynamic Fundus Instrument in telemedicine and medical research.

Imaging axonal transport in the rat visual pathway.

PubMed

Abbott, Carla J; Choe, Tiffany E; Lusardi, Theresa A; Burgoyne, Claude F; Wang, Lin; Fortune, Brad

2013-02-01

A technique was developed for assaying axonal transport in retinal ganglion cells using 2 µl injections of 1% cholera toxin b-subunit conjugated to AlexaFluor488 (CTB). In vivo retinal and post-mortem brain imaging by confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and post-mortem microscopy were performed. The transport of CTB was sensitive to colchicine, which disrupts axonal microtubules. The bulk rates of transport were determined to be approximately 80-90 mm/day (anterograde) and 160 mm/day (retrograde). Results demonstrate that axonal transport of CTB can be monitored in vivo in the rodent anterior visual pathway, is dependent on intact microtubules, and occurs by active transport mechanisms.

Fundus autofluorescence and colour fundus imaging compared during telemedicine screening in patients with diabetes.

PubMed

Kolomeyer, Anton M; Baumrind, Benjamin R; Szirth, Bernard C; Shahid, Khadija; Khouri, Albert S

2013-06-01

We investigated the use of fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging in screening the eyes of patients with diabetes. Images were obtained from 50 patients with type 2 diabetes undergoing telemedicine screening with colour fundus imaging. The colour and FAF images were obtained with a 15.1 megapixel non-mydriatic retinal camera. Colour and FAF images were compared for pathology seen in nonproliferative and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR and PDR, respectively). A qualitative assessment was made of the ease of detecting early retinopathy changes and the extent of existing retinopathy. The mean age of the patients was 47 years, most were male (82%) and most were African American (68%). Their mean visual acuity was 20/45 and their mean intraocular pressure was 14.3 mm Hg. Thirty-eight eyes (76%) did not show any diabetic retinopathy changes on colour or FAF imaging. Seven patients (14%) met the criteria for NPDR and five (10%) for severe NPDR or PDR. The most common findings were microaneurysms, hard exudates and intra-retinal haemorrhages (IRH) (n = 6 for each). IRH, microaneurysms and chorioretinal scars were more easily visible on FAF images. Hard exudates, pre-retinal haemorrhage and fibrosis, macular oedema and Hollenhorst plaque were easier to identify on colour photographs. The value of FAF imaging as a complementary technique to colour fundus imaging in detecting diabetic retinopathy during ocular screening warrants further investigation.

Adaptive optics optical coherence tomography at 120,000 depth scans/s for non-invasive cellular phenotyping of the living human retina

PubMed Central

Torti, Cristiano; Považay, Boris; Hofer, Bernd; Unterhuber, Angelika; Carroll, Joseph; Ahnelt, Peter Kurt; Drexler, Wolfgang

2012-01-01

This paper presents a successful combination of ultra-high speed (120,000 depth scans/s), ultra-high resolution optical coherence tomography with adaptive optics and an achromatizing lens for compensation of monochromatic and longitudinal chromatic ocular aberrations, respectively, allowing for non-invasive volumetric imaging in normal and pathologic human retinas at cellular resolution. The capability of this imaging system is demonstrated here through preliminary studies by probing cellular intraretinal structures that have not been accessible so far with in vivo, non-invasive, label-free imaging techniques, including pigment epithelial cells, micro-vasculature of the choriocapillaris, single nerve fibre bundles and collagenous plates of the lamina cribrosa in the optic nerve head. In addition, the volumetric extent of cone loss in two colour-blinds could be quantified for the first time. This novel technique provides opportunities to enhance the understanding of retinal pathogenesis and early diagnosis of retinal diseases. PMID:19997159

Benefit from NASA

NASA Image and Video Library

1985-01-01

The NASA imaging processing technology, an advanced computer technique to enhance images sent to Earth in digital form by distant spacecraft, helped develop a new vision screening process. The Ocular Vision Screening system, an important step in preventing vision impairment, is a portable device designed especially to detect eye problems in children through the analysis of retinal reflexes.

Investigating the influence of chromatic aberration and optical illumination bandwidth on fundus imaging in rats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hao; Liu, Wenzhong; Zhang, Hao F.

2015-10-01

Rodent models are indispensable in studying various retinal diseases. Noninvasive, high-resolution retinal imaging of rodent models is highly desired for longitudinally investigating the pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies. However, due to severe aberrations, the retinal image quality in rodents can be much worse than that in humans. We numerically and experimentally investigated the influence of chromatic aberration and optical illumination bandwidth on retinal imaging. We confirmed that the rat retinal image quality decreased with increasing illumination bandwidth. We achieved the retinal image resolution of 10 μm using a 19 nm illumination bandwidth centered at 580 nm in a home-built fundus camera. Furthermore, we observed higher chromatic aberration in albino rat eyes than in pigmented rat eyes. This study provides a design guide for high-resolution fundus camera for rodents. Our method is also beneficial to dispersion compensation in multiwavelength retinal imaging applications.

Design of an ultrasonic micro-array for near field sensing during retinal microsurgery.

PubMed

Clarke, Clyde; Etienne-Cummings, Ralph

2006-01-01

A method for obtaining the optimal and specific sensor parameters for a tool-tip mountable ultrasonic transducer micro-array is presented. The ultrasonic transducer array sensor parameters, such as frequency of operation, element size, inter-element spacing, number of elements and transducer geometry are obtained using a quadratic programming method to obtain a maximum directivity while being constrained to a total array size of 4 mm2 and the required resolution for retinal imaging. The technique is used to design a uniformly spaced NxN transducer array that is capable of resolving structures in the retina that are as small as 2 microm from a distance of 100 microm. The resultant 37x37 array of 16 microm transducers with 26 microm spacing will be realized as a Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) array and used for imaging and robotic guidance during retinal microsurgery.

An efficient algorithm for measurement of retinal vessel diameter from fundus images based on directional filtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xuchu; Niu, Yanmin

2011-02-01

Automatic measurement of vessels from fundus images is a crucial step for assessing vessel anomalies in ophthalmological community, where the change in retinal vessel diameters is believed to be indicative of the risk level of diabetic retinopathy. In this paper, a new retinal vessel diameter measurement method by combining vessel orientation estimation and filter response is proposed. Its interesting characteristics include: (1) different from the methods that only fit the vessel profiles, the proposed method extracts more stable and accurate vessel diameter by casting this problem as a maximal response problem of a variation of Gabor filter; (2) the proposed method can directly and efficiently estimate the vessel's orientation, which is usually captured by time-consuming multi-orientation fitting techniques in many existing methods. Experimental results shows that the proposed method both retains the computational simplicity and achieves stable and accurate estimation results.

An Unsupervised Approach for Extraction of Blood Vessels from Fundus Images.

PubMed

Dash, Jyotiprava; Bhoi, Nilamani

2018-04-26

Pathological disorders may happen due to small changes in retinal blood vessels which may later turn into blindness. Hence, the accurate segmentation of blood vessels is becoming a challenging task for pathological analysis. This paper offers an unsupervised recursive method for extraction of blood vessels from ophthalmoscope images. First, a vessel-enhanced image is generated with the help of gamma correction and contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE). Next, the vessels are extracted iteratively by applying an adaptive thresholding technique. At last, a final vessel segmented image is produced by applying a morphological cleaning operation. Evaluations are accompanied on the publicly available digital retinal images for vessel extraction (DRIVE) and Child Heart And Health Study in England (CHASE_DB1) databases using nine different measurements. The proposed method achieves average accuracies of 0.957 and 0.952 on DRIVE and CHASE_DB1 databases respectively.

Retinal optical coherence tomography image enhancement via shrinkage denoising using double-density dual-tree complex wavelet transform

PubMed Central

Mayer, Markus A.; Boretsky, Adam R.; van Kuijk, Frederik J.; Motamedi, Massoud

2012-01-01

Abstract. Image enhancement of retinal structures, in optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans through denoising, has the potential to aid in the diagnosis of several eye diseases. In this paper, a locally adaptive denoising algorithm using double-density dual-tree complex wavelet transform, a combination of the double-density wavelet transform and the dual-tree complex wavelet transform, is applied to reduce speckle noise in OCT images of the retina. The algorithm overcomes the limitations of commonly used multiple frame averaging technique, namely the limited number of frames that can be recorded due to eye movements, by providing a comparable image quality in significantly less acquisition time equal to an order of magnitude less time compared to the averaging method. In addition, improvements of image quality metrics and 5 dB increase in the signal-to-noise ratio are attained. PMID:23117804

Retinal optical coherence tomography image enhancement via shrinkage denoising using double-density dual-tree complex wavelet transform.

PubMed

Chitchian, Shahab; Mayer, Markus A; Boretsky, Adam R; van Kuijk, Frederik J; Motamedi, Massoud

2012-11-01

ABSTRACT. Image enhancement of retinal structures, in optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans through denoising, has the potential to aid in the diagnosis of several eye diseases. In this paper, a locally adaptive denoising algorithm using double-density dual-tree complex wavelet transform, a combination of the double-density wavelet transform and the dual-tree complex wavelet transform, is applied to reduce speckle noise in OCT images of the retina. The algorithm overcomes the limitations of commonly used multiple frame averaging technique, namely the limited number of frames that can be recorded due to eye movements, by providing a comparable image quality in significantly less acquisition time equal to an order of magnitude less time compared to the averaging method. In addition, improvements of image quality metrics and 5 dB increase in the signal-to-noise ratio are attained.

Semi-automated discrimination of retinal pigmented epithelial cells in two-photon fluorescence images of mouse retinas.

PubMed

Alexander, Nathan S; Palczewska, Grazyna; Palczewski, Krzysztof

2015-08-01

Automated image segmentation is a critical step toward achieving a quantitative evaluation of disease states with imaging techniques. Two-photon fluorescence microscopy (TPM) has been employed to visualize the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and provide images indicating the health of the retina. However, segmentation of RPE cells within TPM images is difficult due to small differences in fluorescence intensity between cell borders and cell bodies. Here we present a semi-automated method for segmenting RPE cells that relies upon multiple weak features that differentiate cell borders from the remaining image. These features were scored by a search optimization procedure that built up the cell border in segments around a nucleus of interest. With six images used as a test, our method correctly identified cell borders for 69% of nuclei on average. Performance was strongly dependent upon increasing retinosome content in the RPE. TPM image analysis has the potential of providing improved early quantitative assessments of diseases affecting the RPE.

Automated retinal image quality assessment on the UK Biobank dataset for epidemiological studies.

PubMed

Welikala, R A; Fraz, M M; Foster, P J; Whincup, P H; Rudnicka, A R; Owen, C G; Strachan, D P; Barman, S A

2016-04-01

Morphological changes in the retinal vascular network are associated with future risk of many systemic and vascular diseases. However, uncertainty over the presence and nature of some of these associations exists. Analysis of data from large population based studies will help to resolve these uncertainties. The QUARTZ (QUantitative Analysis of Retinal vessel Topology and siZe) retinal image analysis system allows automated processing of large numbers of retinal images. However, an image quality assessment module is needed to achieve full automation. In this paper, we propose such an algorithm, which uses the segmented vessel map to determine the suitability of retinal images for use in the creation of vessel morphometric data suitable for epidemiological studies. This includes an effective 3-dimensional feature set and support vector machine classification. A random subset of 800 retinal images from UK Biobank (a large prospective study of 500,000 middle aged adults; where 68,151 underwent retinal imaging) was used to examine the performance of the image quality algorithm. The algorithm achieved a sensitivity of 95.33% and a specificity of 91.13% for the detection of inadequate images. The strong performance of this image quality algorithm will make rapid automated analysis of vascular morphometry feasible on the entire UK Biobank dataset (and other large retinal datasets), with minimal operator involvement, and at low cost. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-speed adaptive optics line scan confocal retinal imaging for human eye

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiaolin; Zhang, Yuhua

2017-01-01

Purpose Continuous and rapid eye movement causes significant intraframe distortion in adaptive optics high resolution retinal imaging. To minimize this artifact, we developed a high speed adaptive optics line scan confocal retinal imaging system. Methods A high speed line camera was employed to acquire retinal image and custom adaptive optics was developed to compensate the wave aberration of the human eye’s optics. The spatial resolution and signal to noise ratio were assessed in model eye and in living human eye. The improvement of imaging fidelity was estimated by reduction of intra-frame distortion of retinal images acquired in the living human eyes with frame rates at 30 frames/second (FPS), 100 FPS, and 200 FPS. Results The device produced retinal image with cellular level resolution at 200 FPS with a digitization of 512×512 pixels/frame in the living human eye. Cone photoreceptors in the central fovea and rod photoreceptors near the fovea were resolved in three human subjects in normal chorioretinal health. Compared with retinal images acquired at 30 FPS, the intra-frame distortion in images taken at 200 FPS was reduced by 50.9% to 79.7%. Conclusions We demonstrated the feasibility of acquiring high resolution retinal images in the living human eye at a speed that minimizes retinal motion artifact. This device may facilitate research involving subjects with nystagmus or unsteady fixation due to central vision loss. PMID:28257458

High-speed adaptive optics line scan confocal retinal imaging for human eye.

PubMed

Lu, Jing; Gu, Boyu; Wang, Xiaolin; Zhang, Yuhua

2017-01-01

Continuous and rapid eye movement causes significant intraframe distortion in adaptive optics high resolution retinal imaging. To minimize this artifact, we developed a high speed adaptive optics line scan confocal retinal imaging system. A high speed line camera was employed to acquire retinal image and custom adaptive optics was developed to compensate the wave aberration of the human eye's optics. The spatial resolution and signal to noise ratio were assessed in model eye and in living human eye. The improvement of imaging fidelity was estimated by reduction of intra-frame distortion of retinal images acquired in the living human eyes with frame rates at 30 frames/second (FPS), 100 FPS, and 200 FPS. The device produced retinal image with cellular level resolution at 200 FPS with a digitization of 512×512 pixels/frame in the living human eye. Cone photoreceptors in the central fovea and rod photoreceptors near the fovea were resolved in three human subjects in normal chorioretinal health. Compared with retinal images acquired at 30 FPS, the intra-frame distortion in images taken at 200 FPS was reduced by 50.9% to 79.7%. We demonstrated the feasibility of acquiring high resolution retinal images in the living human eye at a speed that minimizes retinal motion artifact. This device may facilitate research involving subjects with nystagmus or unsteady fixation due to central vision loss.

Retinal health information and notification system (RHINO)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dashtbozorg, Behdad; Zhang, Jiong; Abbasi-Sureshjani, Samaneh; Huang, Fan; ter Haar Romeny, Bart M.

2017-03-01

The retinal vasculature is the only part of the blood circulation system that can be observed non-invasively using fundus cameras. Changes in the dynamic properties of retinal blood vessels are associated with many systemic and vascular diseases, such as hypertension, coronary heart disease and diabetes. The assessment of the characteristics of the retinal vascular network provides important information for an early diagnosis and prognosis of many systemic and vascular diseases. The manual analysis of the retinal vessels and measurement of quantitative biomarkers in large-scale screening programs is a tedious task, time-consuming and costly. This paper describes a reliable, automated, and efficient retinal health information and notification system (acronym RHINO) which can extract a wealth of geometric biomarkers in large volumes of fundus images. The fully automated software presented in this paper includes vessel enhancement and segmentation, artery/vein classification, optic disc, fovea, and vessel junction detection, and bifurcation/crossing discrimination. Pipelining these tools allows the assessment of several quantitative vascular biomarkers: width, curvature, bifurcation geometry features and fractal dimension. The brain-inspired algorithms outperform most of the state-of-the-art techniques. Moreover, several annotation tools are implemented in RHINO for the manual labeling of arteries and veins, marking optic disc and fovea, and delineating vessel centerlines. The validation phase is ongoing and the software is currently being used for the analysis of retinal images from the Maastricht study (the Netherlands) which includes over 10,000 subjects (healthy and diabetic) with a broad spectrum of clinical measurements

Laser Marking of the Meridian of Retinal Breaks at the Ora: A Novel Technique for Pneumatic Retinopexy.

PubMed

Yan, Peng; Minaker, Samuel; Mandelcorn, Efrem D

2016-06-01

Localization of retinal breaks in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) after pneumatic retinopexy (PR) can be challenging once the retina is reattached. Laser can be applied to the pigmented and always-attached ora serrata in the meridian of the retinal breaks prior to pneumatic retinopexy, resulting in subsequent rapid localization of the breaks even in the presence of a gas bubble or media opacity. Ten cases of indirect laser photocoagulation marking at the ora prior to intraocular gas injection in PR for RRD. Subsequent laser retinopexy was completed 48 hours after utilizing the landmarks at the ora to localize the reattached retinal breaks. In all 10 cases, laser photocoagulation marking was easily applied to the ora in the meridian of the retinal breaks prior to gas injection with no complications. The retinal breaks were subsequently identified 48 hours after gas injection. Laser marking of the ora prior to pneumatic retinopexy is a rapid and effective way to localize the re-attached retina breaks. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2016;47:570-572.]. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

Retinal biometrics based on Iterative Closest Point algorithm.

PubMed

Hatanaka, Yuji; Tajima, Mikiya; Kawasaki, Ryo; Saito, Koko; Ogohara, Kazunori; Muramatsu, Chisako; Sunayama, Wataru; Fujita, Hiroshi

2017-07-01

The pattern of blood vessels in the eye is unique to each person because it rarely changes over time. Therefore, it is well known that retinal blood vessels are useful for biometrics. This paper describes a biometrics method using the Jaccard similarity coefficient (JSC) based on blood vessel regions in retinal image pairs. The retinal image pairs were rough matched by the center of their optic discs. Moreover, the image pairs were aligned using the Iterative Closest Point algorithm based on detailed blood vessel skeletons. For registration, perspective transform was applied to the retinal images. Finally, the pairs were classified as either correct or incorrect using the JSC of the blood vessel region in the image pairs. The proposed method was applied to temporal retinal images, which were obtained in 2009 (695 images) and 2013 (87 images). The 87 images acquired in 2013 were all from persons already examined in 2009. The accuracy of the proposed method reached 100%.

Measurement of blood flow through the retinal circulation of the cat during normoxia and hypoxemia using fluorescent microspheres.

PubMed

Ahmed, J; Pulfer, M K; Linsenmeier, R A

2001-09-01

The most successful method for measuring absolute blood flow rate through the retinal circulation has been the use of radioactive microspheres. The purpose of this study was to develop a microsphere method that did not have the drawbacks associated with radioactivity and to use this method to make measurements of retinal blood flow in the cat. Blood flow measurements were made by injecting 15-microm-diameter polystyrene microspheres into the left ventricle of anesthetized, artificially ventilated cats. These microspheres were labeled with one of three fluorescent dyes. Retinal blood flow measurements were made by determining the number of spheres that were embedded in the retina and comparing them to the number found in a reference sample. Spheres in the retina were counted by making retinal whole mounts and taking retinal images with a CCD camera mounted on an epifluorescence microscope equipped with filter sets appropriate for imaging the dyes used to label the spheres. Blood flow measurements made under normal conditions showed a mean retinal blood flow of 19.8 +/- 12.4 ml/min 100 g tissue (mean +/- SD; n = 15 cats). Since the retinal circulation perfuses only the inner half of the retina, the effective flow rate in that region is about twice this value. RBF increased during hypoxemia (P(a)O2 < 42 mm Hg) to 336% of the normoxic value on average. Analysis of sphere deposition patterns showed that the central retina had a higher blood flow than the peripheral retina, although this difference was significant only during hypoxemia. We conclude that even with a relatively small number of spheres deposited in the retina, the technique can reveal important properties of the retinal circulation. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

Color Retinal Image Enhancement Based on Luminosity and Contrast Adjustment.

PubMed

Zhou, Mei; Jin, Kai; Wang, Shaoze; Ye, Juan; Qian, Dahong

2018-03-01

Many common eye diseases and cardiovascular diseases can be diagnosed through retinal imaging. However, due to uneven illumination, image blurring, and low contrast, retinal images with poor quality are not useful for diagnosis, especially in automated image analyzing systems. Here, we propose a new image enhancement method to improve color retinal image luminosity and contrast. A luminance gain matrix, which is obtained by gamma correction of the value channel in the HSV (hue, saturation, and value) color space, is used to enhance the R, G, and B (red, green and blue) channels, respectively. Contrast is then enhanced in the luminosity channel of L * a * b * color space by CLAHE (contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization). Image enhancement by the proposed method is compared to other methods by evaluating quality scores of the enhanced images. The performance of the method is mainly validated on a dataset of 961 poor-quality retinal images. Quality assessment (range 0-1) of image enhancement of this poor dataset indicated that our method improved color retinal image quality from an average of 0.0404 (standard deviation 0.0291) up to an average of 0.4565 (standard deviation 0.1000). The proposed method is shown to achieve superior image enhancement compared to contrast enhancement in other color spaces or by other related methods, while simultaneously preserving image naturalness. This method of color retinal image enhancement may be employed to assist ophthalmologists in more efficient screening of retinal diseases and in development of improved automated image analysis for clinical diagnosis.

Panoramic autofluorescence: highlighting retinal pathology.

PubMed

Slotnick, Samantha; Sherman, Jerome

2012-05-01

Recent technological advances in fundus autofluorescence (FAF) are providing new opportunities for insight into retinal physiology and pathophysiology. FAF provides distinctly different imaging information than standard photography or color separation. A review of the basis for this imaging technology is included to help the clinician understand how to interpret FAF images. Cases are presented to illustrate image interpretation. Optos, which manufactures equipment for simultaneous panoramic imaging, has recently outfitted several units with AF capabilities. Six cases are presented in which panoramic autofluorescent (PAF) images highlight retinal pathology, using Optos' Ultra-Widefield technology. Supportive imaging technologies, such as Optomap® images and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), are used to assist in the clinical interpretation of retinal pathology detected on PAF. Hypofluorescent regions on FAF are identified to occur along with a disruption in the photoreceptors and/or retinal pigment epithelium, as borne out on SD-OCT. Hyperfluorescent regions on FAF occur at the advancing zones of retinal degeneration, indicating impending damage. PAF enables such inferences to be made in retinal areas which lie beyond the reach of SD-OCT imaging. PAF also enhances clinical pattern recognition over a large area and in comparison with the fellow eye. Symmetric retinal degenerations often occur with genetic conditions, such as retinitis pigmentosa, and may impel the clinician to recommend genetic testing. Autofluorescent ophthalmoscopy is a non-invasive procedure that can detect changes in metabolic activity at the retinal pigment epithelium before clinical ophthalmoscopy. Already, AF is being used as an adjunct technology to fluorescein angiography in cases of age-related macular degeneration. Both hyper- and hypoautofluorescent changes are indicative of pathology. Peripheral retinal abnormalities may precede central retinal impacts, potentially providing early signs for intervention before impacting visual acuity. The panoramic image enhances clinical pattern recognition over a large area and in comparison between eyes. Optos' Ultra-Widefield technology is capable of capturing high-resolution images of the peripheral retina without requiring dilation.

Method and system for the diagnosis of disease using retinal image content and an archive of diagnosed human patient data

DOEpatents

Tobin, Kenneth W; Karnowski, Thomas P; Chaum, Edward

2013-08-06

A method for diagnosing diseases having retinal manifestations including retinal pathologies includes the steps of providing a CBIR system including an archive of stored digital retinal photography images and diagnosed patient data corresponding to the retinal photography images, the stored images each indexed in a CBIR database using a plurality of feature vectors, the feature vectors corresponding to distinct descriptive characteristics of the stored images. A query image of the retina of a patient is obtained. Using image processing, regions or structures in the query image are identified. The regions or structures are then described using the plurality of feature vectors. At least one relevant stored image from the archive based on similarity to the regions or structures is retrieved, and an eye disease or a disease having retinal manifestations in the patient is diagnosed based on the diagnosed patient data associated with the relevant stored image(s).

Preservation of visual cortical function following retinal pigment epithelium transplantation in the RCS rat using optical imaging techniques.

PubMed

Gias, Carlos; Jones, Myles; Keegan, David; Adamson, Peter; Greenwood, John; Lund, Ray; Martindale, John; Johnston, David; Berwick, Jason; Mayhew, John; Coffey, Peter

2007-04-01

The aim of this study was to determine the extent of cortical functional preservation following retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) transplantation in the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat using single-wavelength optical imaging and spectroscopy. The cortical responses to visual stimulation in transplanted rats at 6 months post-transplantation were compared with those from age-matched untreated dystrophic and non-dystrophic rats. Our results show that cortical responses were evoked in non-dystrophic rats to both luminance changes and pattern stimulation, whereas no response was found in untreated dystrophic animals to any of the visual stimuli tested. In contrast, a cortical response was elicited in most of the transplanted rats to luminance changes and in many of those a response was also evoked to pattern stimulation. Although the transplanted rats did not respond to high spatial frequency information we found evidence of preservation in the cortical processing of luminance changes and low spatial frequency stimulation. Anatomical sections of transplanted rat retinas confirmed the capacity of RPE transplantation to rescue photoreceptors. Good correlation was found between photoreceptor survival and the extent of cortical function preservation determined with optical imaging techniques. This study determined the efficacy of RPE transplantation to preserve visual cortical processing and established optical imaging as a powerful technique for its assessment.

An introduction to OCT in retinal disease.

PubMed

Baxter, Kim

2015-01-01

Ocular coherence tomography (OCT) has been available to ophthalmologists for many years and has had a significant impact on the diagnosis and treatment of many eye conditions. This fast and non-invasive way to image the eye has had a considerable effect on ophthalmic photography services. OCT can be used to assess the structure of the cornea, iris, anterior chamber, optic nerve and retina. This article focuses upon its use in retinal conditions and explores how the technique is used to aid treatment and diagnosis.

Fusion of multiscale wavelet-based fractal analysis on retina image for stroke prediction.

PubMed

Che Azemin, M Z; Kumar, Dinesh K; Wong, T Y; Wang, J J; Kawasaki, R; Mitchell, P; Arjunan, Sridhar P

2010-01-01

In this paper, we present a novel method of analyzing retinal vasculature using Fourier Fractal Dimension to extract the complexity of the retinal vasculature enhanced at different wavelet scales. Logistic regression was used as a fusion method to model the classifier for 5-year stroke prediction. The efficacy of this technique has been tested using standard pattern recognition performance evaluation, Receivers Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis and medical prediction statistics, odds ratio. Stroke prediction model was developed using the proposed system.

Detection of retinal changes from illumination normalized fundus images using convolutional neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adal, Kedir M.; van Etten, Peter G.; Martinez, Jose P.; Rouwen, Kenneth; Vermeer, Koenraad A.; van Vliet, Lucas J.

2017-03-01

Automated detection and quantification of spatio-temporal retinal changes is an important step to objectively assess disease progression and treatment effects for dynamic retinal diseases such as diabetic retinopathy (DR). However, detecting retinal changes caused by early DR lesions such as microaneurysms and dot hemorrhages from longitudinal pairs of fundus images is challenging due to intra and inter-image illumination variation between fundus images. This paper explores a method for automated detection of retinal changes from illumination normalized fundus images using a deep convolutional neural network (CNN), and compares its performance with two other CNNs trained separately on color and green channel fundus images. Illumination variation was addressed by correcting for the variability in the luminosity and contrast estimated from a large scale retinal regions. The CNN models were trained and evaluated on image patches extracted from a registered fundus image set collected from 51 diabetic eyes that were screened at two different time-points. The results show that using normalized images yield better performance than color and green channel images, suggesting that illumination normalization greatly facilitates CNNs to quickly and correctly learn distinctive local image features of DR related retinal changes.

SPECTRAL DOMAIN OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY FINDINGS IN MACULA-INVOLVING CYTOMEGALOVIRUS RETINITIS.

PubMed

Gupta, Mrinali P; Patel, Sarju; Orlin, Anton; Marlow, Elizabeth; Chee, Ru-Ik; Nadelmann, Jennifer; Chan, R V Paul; DʼAmico, Donald J; Kiss, Szilard

2018-05-01

To evaluate the microstructural features of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). Subjects were patients with macula-involving CMV retinitis with OCT imaging. The leading edge of retinitis in the macula was identified based on fundus imaging, and OCT findings were longitudinally evaluated in three areas: within the area of active retinitis, at the leading edge of retinitis, and just beyond the leading edge of retinitis. Optical coherence tomography imaging of macular CMV retinitis identified vitreous cells in 10 eyes (100%), posterior vitreous detachment in four eyes (40%), broad-based vitreomacular traction in one eye (10%), epiretinal membrane in eight eyes (80%), and lamellar hole-associated epiretinal proliferation associated with an atrophic hole in one eye (10%). Retinal architectural disruption, disruption of inner retinal layers, disruption of the external limiting membrane, and ellipsoid zone abnormalities were noted within the area of retinitis in all eyes and decreased in frequency and severity at and beyond the leading edge of retinitis, although all 10 eyes (100%) exhibited one of these abnormalities, especially outer retinal microabnormalities, beyond the leading edge of retinitis. Microstructural abnormalities were frequently noted on OCT of CMV retinitis, including within the retina beyond the leading edge of retinitis identified by corresponding fundus imaging. Outer retinal abnormalities were noted more frequently than inner retinal abnormalities beyond the leading edge of retinitis. These findings provide insight into the effects of CMV retinitis on retinal microstructure and potentially on vision and highlight the potential utility of OCT for monitoring microprogression of macula-involving CMV retinitis.

Integrated scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography for quantitative multimodal imaging of retinal degeneration and autofluorescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Issaei, Ali; Szczygiel, Lukasz; Hossein-Javaheri, Nima; Young, Mei; Molday, L. L.; Molday, R. S.; Sarunic, M. V.

2011-03-01

Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy (SLO) and Coherence Tomography (OCT) are complimentary retinal imaging modalities. Integration of SLO and OCT allows for both fluorescent detection and depth- resolved structural imaging of the retinal cell layers to be performed in-vivo. System customization is required to image rodents used in medical research by vision scientists. We are investigating multimodal SLO/OCT imaging of a rodent model of Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy which is characterized by retinal degeneration and accumulation of toxic autofluorescent lipofuscin deposits. Our new findings demonstrate the ability to track fundus autofluorescence and retinal degeneration concurrently.

Ridge-branch-based blood vessel detection algorithm for multimodal retinal images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Y.; Hutchings, N.; Knighton, R. W.; Gregori, G.; Lujan, B. J.; Flanagan, J. G.

2009-02-01

Automatic detection of retinal blood vessels is important to medical diagnoses and imaging. With the development of imaging technologies, various modals of retinal images are available. Few of currently published algorithms are applied to multimodal retinal images. Besides, the performance of algorithms with pathologies is expected to be improved. The purpose of this paper is to propose an automatic Ridge-Branch-Based (RBB) detection algorithm of blood vessel centerlines and blood vessels for multimodal retinal images (color fundus photographs, fluorescein angiograms, fundus autofluorescence images, SLO fundus images and OCT fundus images, for example). Ridges, which can be considered as centerlines of vessel-like patterns, are first extracted. The method uses the connective branching information of image ridges: if ridge pixels are connected, they are more likely to be in the same class, vessel ridge pixels or non-vessel ridge pixels. Thanks to the good distinguishing ability of the designed "Segment-Based Ridge Features", the classifier and its parameters can be easily adapted to multimodal retinal images without ground truth training. We present thorough experimental results on SLO images, color fundus photograph database and other multimodal retinal images, as well as comparison between other published algorithms. Results showed that the RBB algorithm achieved a good performance.

Fast and automatic algorithm for optic disc extraction in retinal images using principle-component-analysis-based preprocessing and curvelet transform.

PubMed

Shahbeig, Saleh; Pourghassem, Hossein

2013-01-01

Optic disc or optic nerve (ON) head extraction in retinal images has widespread applications in retinal disease diagnosis and human identification in biometric systems. This paper introduces a fast and automatic algorithm for detecting and extracting the ON region accurately from the retinal images without the use of the blood-vessel information. In this algorithm, to compensate for the destructive changes of the illumination and also enhance the contrast of the retinal images, we estimate the illumination of background and apply an adaptive correction function on the curvelet transform coefficients of retinal images. In other words, we eliminate the fault factors and pave the way to extract the ON region exactly. Then, we detect the ON region from retinal images using the morphology operators based on geodesic conversions, by applying a proper adaptive correction function on the reconstructed image's curvelet transform coefficients and a novel powerful criterion. Finally, using a local thresholding on the detected area of the retinal images, we extract the ON region. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on available images of DRIVE and STARE databases. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm obtains an accuracy rate of 100% and 97.53% for the ON extractions on DRIVE and STARE databases, respectively.

Vessel extraction in retinal images using automatic thresholding and Gabor Wavelet.

PubMed

Ali, Aziah; Hussain, Aini; Wan Zaki, Wan Mimi Diyana

2017-07-01

Retinal image analysis has been widely used for early detection and diagnosis of multiple systemic diseases. Accurate vessel extraction in retinal image is a crucial step towards a fully automated diagnosis system. This work affords an efficient unsupervised method for extracting blood vessels from retinal images by combining existing Gabor Wavelet (GW) method with automatic thresholding. Green channel image is extracted from color retinal image and used to produce Gabor feature image using GW. Both green channel image and Gabor feature image undergo vessel-enhancement step in order to highlight blood vessels. Next, the two vessel-enhanced images are transformed to binary images using automatic thresholding before combined to produce the final vessel output. Combining the images results in significant improvement of blood vessel extraction performance compared to using individual image. Effectiveness of the proposed method was proven via comparative analysis with existing methods validated using publicly available database, DRIVE.

Cognitive issues in searching images with visual queries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, ByungGu; Evens, Martha W.

1999-01-01

In this paper, we propose our image indexing technique and visual query processing technique. Our mental images are different from the actual retinal images and many things, such as personal interests, personal experiences, perceptual context, the characteristics of spatial objects, and so on, affect our spatial perception. These private differences are propagated into our mental images and so our visual queries become different from the real images that we want to find. This is a hard problem and few people have tried to work on it. In this paper, we survey the human mental imagery system, the human spatial perception, and discuss several kinds of visual queries. Also, we propose our own approach to visual query interpretation and processing.

Advanced technology development for image gathering, coding, and processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huck, Friedrich O.

1990-01-01

Three overlapping areas of research activities are presented: (1) Information theory and optimal filtering are extended to visual information acquisition and processing. The goal is to provide a comprehensive methodology for quantitatively assessing the end-to-end performance of image gathering, coding, and processing. (2) Focal-plane processing techniques and technology are developed to combine effectively image gathering with coding. The emphasis is on low-level vision processing akin to the retinal processing in human vision. (3) A breadboard adaptive image-coding system is being assembled. This system will be used to develop and evaluate a number of advanced image-coding technologies and techniques as well as research the concept of adaptive image coding.

In vivo integrated photoacoustic ophthalmoscopy, optical coherence tomography, and scanning laser ophthalmoscopy for retinal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Wei; Zhang, Rui; Zhang, Hao F.; Wei, Qing; Cao, Wenwu

2012-12-01

The physiological and pathological properties of retina are closely associated with various optical contrasts. Hence, integrating different ophthalmic imaging technologies is more beneficial in both fundamental investigation and clinical diagnosis of several blinding diseases. Recently, photoacoustic ophthalmoscopy (PAOM) was developed for in vivo retinal imaging in small animals, which demonstrated the capability of imaging retinal vascular networks and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) at high sensitivity. We combined PAOM with traditional imaging modalities, such as fluorescein angiography (FA), spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and auto-fluorescence scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AF-SLO), for imaging rats and mice. The multimodal imaging system provided more comprehensive evaluation of the retina based on the complementary imaging contrast mechanisms. The high-quality retinal images show that the integrated ophthalmic imaging system has great potential in the investigation of blinding disorders.

Optical coherence tomography – current and future applications

PubMed Central

Adhi, Mehreen; Duker, Jay S.

2013-01-01

Purpose of review Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has revolutionized the clinical practice of ophthalmology. It is a noninvasive imaging technique that provides high-resolution, cross-sectional images of the retina, retinal nerve fiber layer and the optic nerve head. This review discusses the present applications of the commercially available spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) systems in the diagnosis and management of retinal diseases, with particular emphasis on choroidal imaging. Future directions of OCT technology and their potential clinical uses are discussed. Recent findings Analysis of the choroidal thickness in healthy eyes and disease states such as age-related macular degeneration, central serous chorioretinopathy, diabetic retinopathy and inherited retinal dystrophies has been successfully achieved using SD-OCT devices with software improvements. Future OCT innovations such as longer-wavelength OCT systems including the swept-source technology, along with Doppler OCT and en-face imaging, may improve the detection of subtle microstructural changes in chorioretinal diseases by improving imaging of the choroid. Summary Advances in OCT technology provide for better understanding of pathogenesis, improved monitoring of progression and assistance in quantifying response to treatment modalities in diseases of the posterior segment of the eye. Further improvements in both hardware and software technologies should further advance the clinician’s ability to assess and manage chorioretinal diseases. PMID:23429598

A new imaging technique for retinal vessel oximetry: principles and first clinical results in patients with retinal arterial occlusion and diabetic retinopathy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammer, M.; Riemer, T.; Vilser, W.; Gehlert, S.; Schweitzer, D.

2009-02-01

The oxygen saturation of blood inside retinal vessels is an essential measure for the estimation of oxygen supply to the tissue as well as its oxygen consumption. In the current approach, the blood oxygenation is measured by a dual-wavelength technique. Using a fundus camera, equipped with a special dual wavelength transmission filter and a color CCD camera, two monochromatic fundus images at 548 nm and 610 nm were recorded simultaneously. The optical densities of retinal vessels for both wavelengths and their ratio, which is known to be proportional to the oxygen saturation, were calculated. From a health control population, mean arterial and venous oxygen saturations were measured of 98+/-10.1% and 65+/-11.7% with reproducibility of 2.52% and 3.25% respectively. In 10 patients with arterial occlusion, a reduction of the arterial oxygen saturation to 78 +/-17% (mean +/- standard deviation, branch arterial occlusion) and 91+/-11% (central arterial occlusion) respectively was found in the occluded vessel. After 5 days on pentoxifilin therapy, the arterial saturation increased to an average of 93+/-12% or 103 +/-6% respectively. In 70 eyes of 42 patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy, an increase of the venous oxygen saturation with the severity of the retinopathy was found (mild nonproliferative retinopathy: 68.4+/-8.2%, moderate non-proliferative retinopathy: 70.5+/-6.8%, severe non-proliferative retinopathy: 72.4+/-7.6%, proliferative retinopathy 75.7+/-8.3%) due to vessel shunting and diabetic changes of the permeability of vessel walls. These first clinical results demonstrate the ability of an accurate measurement of retinal vessel oxygenation with a very simple setup just requiring a special filter in the illumination path of a fundus camera and dedicated software.

Adaptive Optics Technology for High-Resolution Retinal Imaging

PubMed Central

Lombardo, Marco; Serrao, Sebastiano; Devaney, Nicholas; Parravano, Mariacristina; Lombardo, Giuseppe

2013-01-01

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of optical aberrations. The direct visualization of the photoreceptor cells, capillaries and nerve fiber bundles represents the major benefit of adding AO to retinal imaging. Adaptive optics is opening a new frontier for clinical research in ophthalmology, providing new information on the early pathological changes of the retinal microstructures in various retinal diseases. We have reviewed AO technology for retinal imaging, providing information on the core components of an AO retinal camera. The most commonly used wavefront sensing and correcting elements are discussed. Furthermore, we discuss current applications of AO imaging to a population of healthy adults and to the most frequent causes of blindness, including diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. We conclude our work with a discussion on future clinical prospects for AO retinal imaging. PMID:23271600

COMPARISON OF RETINAL PATHOLOGY VISUALIZATION IN MULTISPECTRAL SCANNING LASER IMAGING.

PubMed

Meshi, Amit; Lin, Tiezhu; Dans, Kunny; Chen, Kevin C; Amador, Manuel; Hasenstab, Kyle; Muftuoglu, Ilkay Kilic; Nudleman, Eric; Chao, Daniel; Bartsch, Dirk-Uwe; Freeman, William R

2018-03-16

To compare retinal pathology visualization in multispectral scanning laser ophthalmoscope imaging between the Spectralis and Optos devices. This retrospective cross-sectional study included 42 eyes from 30 patients with age-related macular degeneration (19 eyes), diabetic retinopathy (10 eyes), and epiretinal membrane (13 eyes). All patients underwent retinal imaging with a color fundus camera (broad-spectrum white light), the Spectralis HRA-2 system (3-color monochromatic lasers), and the Optos P200 system (2-color monochromatic lasers). The Optos image was cropped to a similar size as the Spectralis image. Seven masked graders marked retinal pathologies in each image within a 5 × 5 grid that included the macula. The average area with detected retinal pathology in all eyes was larger in the Spectralis images compared with Optos images (32.4% larger, P < 0.0001), mainly because of better visualization of epiretinal membrane and retinal hemorrhage. The average detection rate of age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy pathologies was similar across the three modalities, whereas epiretinal membrane detection rate was significantly higher in the Spectralis images. Spectralis tricolor multispectral scanning laser ophthalmoscope imaging had higher rate of pathology detection primarily because of better epiretinal membrane and retinal hemorrhage visualization compared with Optos bicolor multispectral scanning laser ophthalmoscope imaging.

Eye Shape Using Partial Coherence Interferometry, Autorefraction and SD OCT

PubMed Central

Clark, Christopher A.; Elsner, Ann E.; Konynenbelt, Benjamin J.

2015-01-01

Purpose Peripheral refraction and retinal shape may influence refractive development. Peripheral refraction has been shown to have a high degree of variability and can take considerable time to perform. SD OCT and peripheral axial length measures may be more reliable, assuming that the retinal position is more important than the peripheral optics of the lens/cornea. Methods 79 subjects right eyes were imaged for this study (age range: 22 to 34 yr, refractive error: −10 to +5.00.) Thirty deg SD OCT (Spectralis, Heidleberg) images were collected in a radial pattern along with peripheral refraction with an autorefractor (Shin-Nippon Auto-refractor) and peripheral axial length measurements with partial coherence interferometry (PCI) (IOLmaster, Zeiss). Statistics were performed using repeat measures ANOVA in SPSS (IBM), Bland-Altman analyses, and regression. All measures were converted to diopters to allow direct comparison. Results SD OCT showed a retinal shape with an increased curvature for myopes compared to emmetropes/hyperopes. This retinal shape change became significant around 5 deg. The SD OCT analysis for retinal shape provides a resolution of 0.026 dipopters, which is about ten times more accurate than using autorefraction or clinical refractive techniques. Bland-Altman analyses suggest that retinal shape measured by SD OCT and the PCI method were more consistent with one another than either was with AR. Conclusions With more accurate measures of retinal shape using SD OCT, consistent differences between emmetrope/hyperopes and myopes were found nearer to the fovea than previously reported. Retinal shape may be influenced by central refractive error, and not merely peripheral optics. Partial coherence interferometry and SD OCT appear to be more accurate than autorefraction, which may be influenced other factors such as fixation and accommodation. Autorefraction does measure the optics directly, which may be a strength of that method. PMID:25437906

Macula segmentation and fovea localization employing image processing and heuristic based clustering for automated retinal screening.

PubMed

R, GeethaRamani; Balasubramanian, Lakshmi

2018-07-01

Macula segmentation and fovea localization is one of the primary tasks in retinal analysis as they are responsible for detailed vision. Existing approaches required segmentation of retinal structures viz. optic disc and blood vessels for this purpose. This work avoids knowledge of other retinal structures and attempts data mining techniques to segment macula. Unsupervised clustering algorithm is exploited for this purpose. Selection of initial cluster centres has a great impact on performance of clustering algorithms. A heuristic based clustering in which initial centres are selected based on measures defining statistical distribution of data is incorporated in the proposed methodology. The initial phase of proposed framework includes image cropping, green channel extraction, contrast enhancement and application of mathematical closing. Then, the pre-processed image is subjected to heuristic based clustering yielding a binary map. The binary image is post-processed to eliminate unwanted components. Finally, the component which possessed the minimum intensity is finalized as macula and its centre constitutes the fovea. The proposed approach outperforms existing works by reporting that 100%,of HRF, 100% of DRIVE, 96.92% of DIARETDB0, 97.75% of DIARETDB1, 98.81% of HEI-MED, 90% of STARE and 99.33% of MESSIDOR images satisfy the 1R criterion, a standard adopted for evaluating performance of macula and fovea identification. The proposed system thus helps the ophthalmologists in identifying the macula thereby facilitating to identify if any abnormality is present within the macula region. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An optimized content-aware image retargeting method: toward expanding the perceived visual field of the high-density retinal prosthesis recipients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Heng; Zeng, Yajie; Lu, Zhuofan; Cao, Xiaofei; Su, Xiaofan; Sui, Xiaohong; Wang, Jing; Chai, Xinyu

2018-04-01

Objective. Retinal prosthesis devices have shown great value in restoring some sight for individuals with profoundly impaired vision, but the visual acuity and visual field provided by prostheses greatly limit recipients’ visual experience. In this paper, we employ computer vision approaches to seek to expand the perceptible visual field in patients implanted potentially with a high-density retinal prosthesis while maintaining visual acuity as much as possible. Approach. We propose an optimized content-aware image retargeting method, by introducing salient object detection based on color and intensity-difference contrast, aiming to remap important information of a scene into a small visual field and preserve their original scale as much as possible. It may improve prosthetic recipients’ perceived visual field and aid in performing some visual tasks (e.g. object detection and object recognition). To verify our method, psychophysical experiments, detecting object number and recognizing objects, are conducted under simulated prosthetic vision. As control, we use three other image retargeting techniques, including Cropping, Scaling, and seam-assisted shrinkability. Main results. Results show that our method outperforms in preserving more key features and has significantly higher recognition accuracy in comparison with other three image retargeting methods under the condition of small visual field and low-resolution. Significance. The proposed method is beneficial to expand the perceived visual field of prosthesis recipients and improve their object detection and recognition performance. It suggests that our method may provide an effective option for image processing module in future high-density retinal implants.

Clinical applications of fundus autofluorescence in retinal disease.

PubMed

Yung, Madeline; Klufas, Michael A; Sarraf, David

2016-01-01

Fundus autofluorescence (FAF) is a non-invasive retinal imaging modality used in clinical practice to provide a density map of lipofuscin, the predominant ocular fluorophore, in the retinal pigment epithelium. Multiple commercially available imaging systems, including the fundus camera, the confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope, and the ultra-widefield imaging device, are available to the clinician. Each offers unique advantages for evaluating various retinal diseases. The clinical applications of FAF continue to expand. It is now an essential tool for evaluating age related macular degeneration, macular dystrophies, retinitis pigmentosa, white dot syndromes, retinal drug toxicities, and various other retinal disorders. FAF may detect abnormalities beyond those detected on funduscopic exam, fluorescein angiography, or optical coherence tomography, and can be used to elucidate disease pathogenesis, form genotype-phenotype correlations, diagnose and monitor disease, and evaluate novel therapies. Given its ease of use, non-invasive nature, and value in characterizing retinal disease, FAF enjoys increasing clinical relevance. This review summarizes common ocular fluorophores, imaging modalities, and FAF findings for a wide spectrum of retinal disorders.

Retinal status analysis method based on feature extraction and quantitative grading in OCT images.

PubMed

Fu, Dongmei; Tong, Hejun; Zheng, Shuang; Luo, Ling; Gao, Fulin; Minar, Jiri

2016-07-22

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is widely used in ophthalmology for viewing the morphology of the retina, which is important for disease detection and assessing therapeutic effect. The diagnosis of retinal diseases is based primarily on the subjective analysis of OCT images by trained ophthalmologists. This paper describes an OCT images automatic analysis method for computer-aided disease diagnosis and it is a critical part of the eye fundus diagnosis. This study analyzed 300 OCT images acquired by Optovue Avanti RTVue XR (Optovue Corp., Fremont, CA). Firstly, the normal retinal reference model based on retinal boundaries was presented. Subsequently, two kinds of quantitative methods based on geometric features and morphological features were proposed. This paper put forward a retinal abnormal grading decision-making method which was used in actual analysis and evaluation of multiple OCT images. This paper showed detailed analysis process by four retinal OCT images with different abnormal degrees. The final grading results verified that the analysis method can distinguish abnormal severity and lesion regions. This paper presented the simulation of the 150 test images, where the results of analysis of retinal status showed that the sensitivity was 0.94 and specificity was 0.92.The proposed method can speed up diagnostic process and objectively evaluate the retinal status. This paper aims on studies of retinal status automatic analysis method based on feature extraction and quantitative grading in OCT images. The proposed method can obtain the parameters and the features that are associated with retinal morphology. Quantitative analysis and evaluation of these features are combined with reference model which can realize the target image abnormal judgment and provide a reference for disease diagnosis.

Retinal flavoprotein autofluorescence as a measure of retinal health.

PubMed

Elner, Susan G; Elner, Victor M; Field, Matthew G; Park, Seung; Heckenlively, John R; Petty, Howard R

2008-01-01

To establish that increased autofluorescence of mitochondrial flavoproteins, an indicator of mitochondrial oxidative stress, correlates with retinal cell dysfunction. Retinal flavoprotein autofluorescence (FA) was imaged in humans with a fundus camera modified with 467DF8-nm excitation and 535-nm emission filters and a back-illuminated, electron-multiplying, charge-coupled device camera interfaced with a computer equipped with customized image capture software. Multiple digital images, centered on the fovea, were obtained from each eye. Histograms of pixel intensities in grayscale units were analyzed for average intensity and average curve width. Adults with diabetes mellitus, age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), central serous retinopathy, and retinal dystrophies, as well as healthy control volunteers, were imaged. Monolayers of cultured human retinal pigment epithelial (HRPE) cells, HRPE cells exposed to sublethal doses of H2O2, and HRPE cells exposed to H2O2 in the presence of antioxidants were imaged for FA using fluorescent photomicroscopy. Control patients demonstrated low levels of retinal FA, which increased progressively with age. Diabetics without visible retinopathy demonstrated increased FA levels compared to control volunteers (P < .001). Diabetics with retinopathy demonstrated significantly higher FA values than those without retinopathy (P < .04). Patients with ARMD, central serous retinopathy, or retinal dystrophies also demonstrated significantly increased FA. Compared to control RPE cells, cells oxidatively stressed with H2O2 had significantly elevated FA (P < .05), which was prevented by antioxidants (P < .05). Retinal FA is significantly increased with age and diseases known to be mediated by oxidative stress. Retinal FA imaging may provide a novel, noninvasive method of assessing retinal health and retinal dysfunction prior to retinal cell death.

Field Portable Digital Ophthalmoscope/Fundus Camera. Phase I

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-05-01

robbing injuries and pathologies. Included are retinal detachments, laser damage, CMV retinitis , retinitis pigmentosa , glaucoma, tumors, and the like...RMI-S, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland 21702-5012. 13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 Retinal imaging is key for diagnoses and treatment of various eye-sight...personnel, and generally only used by ophthalmologists or in hospital settings. The retinal camera of this project will revolutionize retinal imaging

In Vivo Imaging of Human Cone Photoreceptor Inner Segments

PubMed Central

Scoles, Drew; Sulai, Yusufu N.; Langlo, Christopher S.; Fishman, Gerald A.; Curcio, Christine A.; Carroll, Joseph; Dubra, Alfredo

2014-01-01

Purpose. An often overlooked prerequisite to cone photoreceptor gene therapy development is residual photoreceptor structure that can be rescued. While advances in adaptive optics (AO) retinal imaging have recently enabled direct visualization of individual cone and rod photoreceptors in the living human retina, these techniques largely detect strongly directionally-backscattered (waveguided) light from normal intact photoreceptors. This represents a major limitation in using existing AO imaging to quantify structure of remnant cones in degenerating retina. Methods. Photoreceptor inner segment structure was assessed with a novel AO scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) differential phase technique, that we termed nonconfocal split-detector, in two healthy subjects and four subjects with achromatopsia. Ex vivo preparations of five healthy donor eyes were analyzed for comparison of inner segment diameter to that measured in vivo with split-detector AOSLO. Results. Nonconfocal split-detector AOSLO reveals the photoreceptor inner segment with or without the presence of a waveguiding outer segment. The diameter of inner segments measured in vivo is in good agreement with histology. A substantial number of foveal and parafoveal cone photoreceptors with apparently intact inner segments were identified in patients with the inherited disease achromatopsia. Conclusions. The application of nonconfocal split-detector to emerging human gene therapy trials will improve the potential of therapeutic success, by identifying patients with sufficient retained photoreceptor structure to benefit the most from intervention. Additionally, split-detector imaging may be useful for studies of other retinal degenerations such as AMD, retinitis pigmentosa, and choroideremia where the outer segment is lost before the remainder of the photoreceptor cell. PMID:24906859

Using ultrahigh sensitive optical microangiography to achieve comprehensive depth resolved microvasculature mapping for human retina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

An, Lin; Shen, Tueng T.; Wang, Ruikang K.

2011-10-01

This paper presents comprehensive and depth-resolved retinal microvasculature images within human retina achieved by a newly developed ultrahigh sensitive optical microangiography (UHS-OMAG) system. Due to its high flow sensitivity, UHS-OMAG is much more sensitive to tissue motion due to the involuntary movement of the human eye and head compared to the traditional OMAG system. To mitigate these motion artifacts on final imaging results, we propose a new phase compensation algorithm in which the traditional phase-compensation algorithm is repeatedly used to efficiently minimize the motion artifacts. Comparatively, this new algorithm demonstrates at least 8 to 25 times higher motion tolerability, critical for the UHS-OMAG system to achieve retinal microvasculature images with high quality. Furthermore, the new UHS-OMAG system employs a high speed line scan CMOS camera (240 kHz A-line scan rate) to capture 500 A-lines for one B-frame at a 400 Hz frame rate. With this system, we performed a series of in vivo experiments to visualize the retinal microvasculature in humans. Two featured imaging protocols are utilized. The first is of the low lateral resolution (16 μm) and a wide field of view (4 × 3 mm2 with single scan and 7 × 8 mm2 for multiple scans), while the second is of the high lateral resolution (5 μm) and a narrow field of view (1.5 × 1.2 mm2 with single scan). The great imaging performance delivered by our system suggests that UHS-OMAG can be a promising noninvasive alternative to the current clinical retinal microvasculature imaging techniques for the diagnosis of eye diseases with significant vascular involvement, such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration.

Retinal fundus images for glaucoma analysis: the RIGA dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Almazroa, Ahmed; Alodhayb, Sami; Osman, Essameldin; Ramadan, Eslam; Hummadi, Mohammed; Dlaim, Mohammed; Alkatee, Muhannad; Raahemifar, Kaamran; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

2018-03-01

Glaucoma neuropathy is a major cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Current models of chronic care will not be able to close the gap of growing prevalence of glaucoma and challenges for access to healthcare services. Teleophthalmology is being developed to close this gap. In order to develop automated techniques for glaucoma detection which can be used in tele-ophthalmology we have developed a large retinal fundus dataset. A de-identified dataset of retinal fundus images for glaucoma analysis (RIGA) was derived from three sources for a total of 750 images. The optic cup and disc boundaries for each image was marked and annotated manually by six experienced ophthalmologists and included the cup to disc (CDR) estimates. Six parameters were extracted and assessed (the disc area and centroid, cup area and centroid, horizontal and vertical cup to disc ratios) among the ophthalmologists. The inter-observer annotations were compared by calculating the standard deviation (SD) for every image between the six ophthalmologists in order to determine if the outliers amongst the six and was used to filter the corresponding images. The data set will be made available to the research community in order to crowd source other analysis from other research groups in order to develop, validate and implement analysis algorithms appropriate for tele-glaucoma assessment. The RIGA dataset can be freely accessed online through University of Michigan, Deep Blue website (doi:10.7302/Z23R0R29).

Multi-categorical deep learning neural network to classify retinal images: A pilot study employing small database

PubMed Central

Seo, Jeong Gi; Kwak, Jiyong; Um, Terry Taewoong; Rim, Tyler Hyungtaek

2017-01-01

Deep learning emerges as a powerful tool for analyzing medical images. Retinal disease detection by using computer-aided diagnosis from fundus image has emerged as a new method. We applied deep learning convolutional neural network by using MatConvNet for an automated detection of multiple retinal diseases with fundus photographs involved in STructured Analysis of the REtina (STARE) database. Dataset was built by expanding data on 10 categories, including normal retina and nine retinal diseases. The optimal outcomes were acquired by using a random forest transfer learning based on VGG-19 architecture. The classification results depended greatly on the number of categories. As the number of categories increased, the performance of deep learning models was diminished. When all 10 categories were included, we obtained results with an accuracy of 30.5%, relative classifier information (RCI) of 0.052, and Cohen’s kappa of 0.224. Considering three integrated normal, background diabetic retinopathy, and dry age-related macular degeneration, the multi-categorical classifier showed accuracy of 72.8%, 0.283 RCI, and 0.577 kappa. In addition, several ensemble classifiers enhanced the multi-categorical classification performance. The transfer learning incorporated with ensemble classifier of clustering and voting approach presented the best performance with accuracy of 36.7%, 0.053 RCI, and 0.225 kappa in the 10 retinal diseases classification problem. First, due to the small size of datasets, the deep learning techniques in this study were ineffective to be applied in clinics where numerous patients suffering from various types of retinal disorders visit for diagnosis and treatment. Second, we found that the transfer learning incorporated with ensemble classifiers can improve the classification performance in order to detect multi-categorical retinal diseases. Further studies should confirm the effectiveness of algorithms with large datasets obtained from hospitals. PMID:29095872

Intraoperative microscope-mounted spectral domain optical coherence tomography for evaluation of retinal anatomy during macular surgery.

PubMed

Ray, Robin; Barañano, David E; Fortun, Jorge A; Schwent, Bryan J; Cribbs, Blaine E; Bergstrom, Chris S; Hubbard, G Baker; Srivastava, Sunil K

2011-11-01

To evaluate the use of microscope mounted spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) to detect changes in retinal anatomy during macular surgery. Retrospective, observational case series. We included 25 eyes of 24 consecutive patients who underwent SD-OCT during macular surgery. A retrospective review of operative techniques, outcomes, and imaging for all patients who underwent intraoperative microscope mounted SD-OCT during surgery for macular hole or epiretinal membrane (ERM) from April 2009 to April 2010 was performed. Qualitative and quantitative characteristics of intraoperative and postoperative changes in retinal anatomy were studied. Intraoperative change in macular hole dimensions and retinal thickness in patients with ERM owing to surgical manipulation measured using SD-OCT. Intraoperative SD-OCT from 13 eyes of 13 patients undergoing surgery for macular hole was reviewed. Two cases had images of suboptimal quality and were excluded. The remaining 11 eyes were subjected to quantitative analysis, which revealed stability of macular hole height and central hole diameter after internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling, but an increase in the diameter of subretinal fluid under the macula in ten of 11 eyes (average 87% wider). Intraoperative imaging from 12 eyes of 11 patients undergoing surgery for ERM was analyzed. Quantitative analysis revealed an average increase of retinal thickness after ILM peel of <2%. Ten of 12 eyes developed a new subretinal hyporeflectance, which likely represents shallow detachment of the macula, after uncomplicated membrane peel. Use of intraoperative SD-OCT has provided new insight into the changes to retinal anatomy during macular surgery and may prove to be a useful tool for vitreoretinal surgery. Further study is warranted to determine whether intraoperative changes such as the creation of shallow retinal detachments during uncomplicated macular surgery affects visual recovery. Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references. Copyright © 2011 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Imaging microscopic structures in pathological retinas using a flood-illumination adaptive optics retinal camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viard, Clément; Nakashima, Kiyoko; Lamory, Barbara; Pâques, Michel; Levecq, Xavier; Château, Nicolas

2011-03-01

This research is aimed at characterizing in vivo differences between healthy and pathological retinal tissues at the microscopic scale using a compact adaptive optics (AO) retinal camera. Tests were performed in 120 healthy eyes and 180 eyes suffering from 19 different pathological conditions, including age-related maculopathy (ARM), glaucoma and rare diseases such as inherited retinal dystrophies. Each patient was first examined using SD-OCT and infrared SLO. Retinal areas of 4°x4° were imaged using an AO flood-illumination retinal camera based on a large-stroke deformable mirror. Contrast was finally enhanced by registering and averaging rough images using classical algorithms. Cellular-resolution images could be obtained in most cases. In ARM, AO images revealed granular contents in drusen, which were invisible in SLO or OCT images, and allowed the observation of the cone mosaic between drusen. In glaucoma cases, visual field was correlated to changes in cone visibility. In inherited retinal dystrophies, AO helped to evaluate cone loss across the retina. Other microstructures, slightly larger in size than cones, were also visible in several retinas. AO provided potentially useful diagnostic and prognostic information in various diseases. In addition to cones, other microscopic structures revealed by AO images may also be of interest in monitoring retinal diseases.

Cellular mechanisms underlying spatiotemporal features of cholinergic retinal waves

PubMed Central

Ford, Kevin J.; Félix, Aude L.; Feller, Marla B.

2012-01-01

Prior to vision, a transient network of recurrently connected cholinergic interneurons, called starburst amacrine cells (SACs), generates spontaneous retinal waves. Despite an absence of robust inhibition, cholinergic retinal waves initiate infrequently and propagate within finite boundaries. Here we combine a variety of electrophysiological and imaging techniques and computational modeling to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these spatial and temporal properties of waves in developing mouse retina. Waves initiate via rare spontaneous depolarizations of SACs. Waves propagate through recurrent cholinergic connections between SACs and volume release of ACh as demonstrated using paired recordings and a cell-based ACh optical sensor. Perforated patch recordings and two-photon calcium imaging reveal that individual SACs have slow afterhyperpolarizations that induce SACs to have variable depolarizations during sequential waves. Using a computational model in which the properties of SACs are based on these physiological measurements, we reproduce the slow frequency, speed, and finite size of recorded waves. This study represents a detailed description of the circuit that mediates cholinergic retinal waves and indicates that variability of the interneurons that generate this network activity may be critical for the robustness of waves across different species and stages of development. PMID:22262883

Novel Computerized Method for Measurement of Retinal Vessel Diameters

PubMed Central

Guedri, Hichem; Ben Abdallah, Mariem; Echouchene, Fraj; Belmabrouk, Hafedh

2017-01-01

Several clinical studies reveal the relationship between alterations in the topologies of the human retinal blood vessel, the outcrop and the disease evolution, such as diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, and macular degeneration. Indeed, the detection of these vascular changes always has gaps. In addition, the manual steps are slow, which may be subjected to a bias of the perceiver. However, we can overcome these troubles using computer algorithms that are quicker and more accurate. This paper presents and investigates a novel method for measuring the blood vessel diameter in the retinal image. The proposed method is based on a thresholding segmentation and thinning step, followed by the characteristic point determination step by the Douglas-Peucker algorithm. Thereafter, it uses the active contours to detect vessel contour. Finally, Heron’s Formula is applied to assure the calculation of vessel diameter. The obtained results for six sample images showed that the proposed method generated less errors compared to other techniques, which confirms the high performance of the proposed method. PMID:28536355

Clinical applications of optical coherence tomography in the posterior pole: the 2011 José Manuel Espino Lecture – Part II

PubMed Central

Arevalo, J Fernando; Lasave, Andres F; Arias, Juan D; Serrano, Martin A; Arevalo, Fernando A

2013-01-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging technique that allows detailed assessment of retinal thickness and morphologic evaluation of the retinal layers. This technology has developed quickly over the past two decades. OCT imaging has rapidly been integrated into routine ophthalmic clinical practice and trials. It has complemented fluorescein angiography in many instances, especially in the diagnosis and management of retinal disorders, including diabetic macular edema and age-related macular degeneration. With OCT, the exact localization of pathologic features can be visualized in segmentation maps of the retina, and this has allowed OCT to be used to evaluate specific features that may serve as predictive factors in the prognosis and follow up of these pathologies. Therefore, it has become an important clinical and research tool for the diagnosis, follow up, treatment, and assessment of new treatment modalities for all diseases that affect the posterior pole of the eye. PMID:24235811

Retinal and visual system: occupational and environmental toxicology.

PubMed

Fox, Donald A

2015-01-01

Occupational chemical exposure often results in sensory systems alterations that occur without other clinical signs or symptoms. Approximately 3000 chemicals are toxic to the retina and central visual system. Their dysfunction can have immediate, long-term, and delayed effects on mental health, physical health, and performance and lead to increased occupational injuries. The aims of this chapter are fourfold. First, provide references on retinal/visual system structure, function, and assessment techniques. Second, discuss the retinal features that make it especially vulnerable to toxic chemicals. Third, review the clinical and corresponding experimental data regarding retinal/visual system deficits produced by occupational toxicants: organic solvents (carbon disulfide, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, styrene, toluene, and mixtures) and metals (inorganic lead, methyl mercury, and mercury vapor). Fourth, discuss occupational and environmental toxicants as risk factors for late-onset retinal diseases and degeneration. Overall, the toxicants altered color vision, rod- and/or cone-mediated electroretinograms, visual fields, spatial contrast sensitivity, and/or retinal thickness. The findings elucidate the importance of conducting multimodal noninvasive clinical, electrophysiologic, imaging and vision testing to monitor toxicant-exposed workers for possible retinal/visual system alterations. Finally, since the retina is a window into the brain, an increased awareness and understanding of retinal/visual system dysfunction should provide additional insight into acquired neurodegenerative disorders. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The use of microperimetry in assessing visual function in age-related macular degeneration.

PubMed

Cassels, Nicola K; Wild, John M; Margrain, Tom H; Chong, Victor; Acton, Jennifer H

Microperimetry is a novel technique for assessing visual function that appears particularly suitable for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Compared with standard automated perimetry, microperimetry offers several unique features. It simultaneously images the fundus, incorporates an eye-tracking system to correct the stimulus location for fixation loss, and identifies any preferred retinal loci. We identified 52 articles that met the inclusion criteria for a systematic review of microperimetry in the assessment of visual function in AMD. We discuss microperimetry and AMD in relation to disease severity, structural imaging outcomes, other measures of visual function, and evaluation of the efficacy of surgical and/or medical therapies in clinical trials. The evidence for the use of microperimetry in the functional assessment of AMD is encouraging. Disruptions of the ellipsoid zone band and retinal pigment epithelium are clearly associated with reduced differential light sensitivity despite the maintenance of good visual acuity. Reduced differential light sensitivity is also associated with outer segment thinning and retinal pigment epithelium thickening in early AMD and with both a thickening and a thinning of the whole retina in choroidal neovascularization. Microperimetry, however, lacks the robust diffuse and focal loss age-corrected probability analyses associated with standard automated perimetry, and the technique is currently limited by this omission. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Smartphone Fundus Photography.

PubMed

Nazari Khanamiri, Hossein; Nakatsuka, Austin; El-Annan, Jaafar

2017-07-06

Smartphone fundus photography is a simple technique to obtain ocular fundus pictures using a smartphone camera and a conventional handheld indirect ophthalmoscopy lens. This technique is indispensable when picture documentation of optic nerve, retina, and retinal vessels is necessary but a fundus camera is not available. The main advantage of this technique is the widespread availability of smartphones that allows documentation of macula and optic nerve changes in many settings that was not previously possible. Following the well-defined steps detailed here, such as proper alignment of the phone camera, handheld lens, and the patient's pupil, is the key for obtaining a clear retina picture with no interfering light reflections and aberrations. In this paper, the optical principles of indirect ophthalmoscopy and fundus photography will be reviewed first. Then, the step-by-step method to record a good quality retinal image using a smartphone will be explained.

GPU accelerated optical coherence tomography angiography using strip-based registration (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heisler, Morgan; Lee, Sieun; Mammo, Zaid; Jian, Yifan; Ju, Myeong Jin; Miao, Dongkai; Raposo, Eric; Wahl, Daniel J.; Merkur, Andrew; Navajas, Eduardo; Balaratnasingam, Chandrakumar; Beg, Mirza Faisal; Sarunic, Marinko V.

2017-02-01

High quality visualization of the retinal microvasculature can improve our understanding of the onset and development of retinal vascular diseases, which are a major cause of visual morbidity and are increasing in prevalence. Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCT-A) images are acquired over multiple seconds and are particularly susceptible to motion artifacts, which are more prevalent when imaging patients with pathology whose ability to fixate is limited. The acquisition of multiple OCT-A images sequentially can be performed for the purpose of removing motion artifact and increasing the contrast of the vascular network through averaging. Due to the motion artifacts, a robust registration pipeline is needed before feature preserving image averaging can be performed. In this report, we present a novel method for a GPU-accelerated pipeline for acquisition, processing, segmentation, and registration of multiple, sequentially acquired OCT-A images to correct for the motion artifacts in individual images for the purpose of averaging. High performance computing, blending CPU and GPU, was introduced to accelerate processing in order to provide high quality visualization of the retinal microvasculature and to enable a more accurate quantitative analysis in a clinically useful time frame. Specifically, image discontinuities caused by rapid micro-saccadic movements and image warping due to smoother reflex movements were corrected by strip-wise affine registration estimated using Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) keypoints and subsequent local similarity-based non-rigid registration. These techniques improve the image quality, increasing the value for clinical diagnosis and increasing the range of patients for whom high quality OCT-A images can be acquired.

A novel retinal vessel extraction algorithm based on matched filtering and gradient vector flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Lei; Xia, Mingliang; Xuan, Li

2013-10-01

The microvasculature network of retina plays an important role in the study and diagnosis of retinal diseases (age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy for example). Although it is possible to noninvasively acquire high-resolution retinal images with modern retinal imaging technologies, non-uniform illumination, the low contrast of thin vessels and the background noises all make it difficult for diagnosis. In this paper, we introduce a novel retinal vessel extraction algorithm based on gradient vector flow and matched filtering to segment retinal vessels with different likelihood. Firstly, we use isotropic Gaussian kernel and adaptive histogram equalization to smooth and enhance the retinal images respectively. Secondly, a multi-scale matched filtering method is adopted to extract the retinal vessels. Then, the gradient vector flow algorithm is introduced to locate the edge of the retinal vessels. Finally, we combine the results of matched filtering method and gradient vector flow algorithm to extract the vessels at different likelihood levels. The experiments demonstrate that our algorithm is efficient and the intensities of vessel images exactly represent the likelihood of the vessels.

Retinal image restoration by means of blind deconvolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marrugo, Andrés G.; Šorel, Michal; Šroubek, Filip; Millán, María S.

2011-11-01

Retinal imaging plays a key role in the diagnosis and management of ophthalmologic disorders, such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. Because of the acquisition process, retinal images often suffer from blurring and uneven illumination. This problem may seriously affect disease diagnosis and progression assessment. Here we present a method for color retinal image restoration by means of multichannel blind deconvolution. The method is applied to a pair of retinal images acquired within a lapse of time, ranging from several minutes to months. It consists of a series of preprocessing steps to adjust the images so they comply with the considered degradation model, followed by the estimation of the point-spread function and, ultimately, image deconvolution. The preprocessing is mainly composed of image registration, uneven illumination compensation, and segmentation of areas with structural changes. In addition, we have developed a procedure for the detection and visualization of structural changes. This enables the identification of subtle developments in the retina not caused by variation in illumination or blur. The method was tested on synthetic and real images. Encouraging experimental results show that the method is capable of significant restoration of degraded retinal images.

An Automatic Image Processing System for Glaucoma Screening

PubMed Central

Alodhayb, Sami; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

2017-01-01

Horizontal and vertical cup to disc ratios are the most crucial parameters used clinically to detect glaucoma or monitor its progress and are manually evaluated from retinal fundus images of the optic nerve head. Due to the rarity of the glaucoma experts as well as the increasing in glaucoma's population, an automatically calculated horizontal and vertical cup to disc ratios (HCDR and VCDR, resp.) can be useful for glaucoma screening. We report on two algorithms to calculate the HCDR and VCDR. In the algorithms, level set and inpainting techniques were developed for segmenting the disc, while thresholding using Type-II fuzzy approach was developed for segmenting the cup. The results from the algorithms were verified using the manual markings of images from a dataset of glaucomatous images (retinal fundus images for glaucoma analysis (RIGA dataset)) by six ophthalmologists. The algorithm's accuracy for HCDR and VCDR combined was 74.2%. Only the accuracy of manual markings by one ophthalmologist was higher than the algorithm's accuracy. The algorithm's best agreement was with markings by ophthalmologist number 1 in 230 images (41.8%) of the total tested images. PMID:28947898

Multimodal Imaging and Spatial Analysis of Ebola Retinal Lesions in 14 Survivors of Ebola Virus Disease.

PubMed

Steptoe, Paul J; Momorie, Fayiah; Fornah, Alimamy D; Komba, Sahr P; Emsley, Elizabeth; Scott, Janet T; Harding, Simon P; Vandy, Matthew J; Sahr, Foday; Beare, Nicholas A V; Semple, Malcolm G

2018-05-03

Differentiation between Ebola retinal lesions and other retinal pathologies in West Africa is important, and the pathogenesis of Ebola retinal disease remains poorly understood. To describe the appearance of Ebola virus disease (EVD) retinal lesions using multimodal imaging to enable inferences on potential pathogenesis. This prospective case series study was carried out at 34 Military Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Ophthalmological images were analyzed from 14 consecutively identified survivors of EVD of Sierra Leonean origin who had identified Ebola retinal lesions. Multimodal imaging findings including ultra-widefield scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, fundus autofluorescence, swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT), Humphrey visual field analysis, and spatial analysis. The 14 study participants had a mean (SD) age of 37.1 (8.8) years; 6 (43%) were women. A total of 141 Ebola retinal lesions were observed in 22 of 27 eyes (81%) of these 14 survivors on ultra-widefield imaging. Of these, 41 lesions (29.1%) were accessible to OCT imaging. Retinal lesions were predominantly nonpigmented with a pale-gray appearance. Peripapillary lesions exhibited variable curvatures in keeping with the retinal nerve fiber layer projections. All lesions respected the horizontal raphe and spared the fovea. The OCT imaging demonstrated a V-shaped hyperreflectivity of the outer nuclear layer overlying discontinuities of the ellipsoid zone and interdigitation zone in the smaller lesions. Larger lesions caused a collapse of the retinal layers and loss of retinal thickness. Lesion shapes were variable, but sharp angulations were characteristic. Perilesional areas of dark without pressure (thinned ellipsoid zone hyporeflectivity) accompanied 125 of the 141 lesions (88.7%) to varying extents. We demonstrate OCT evidence of localized pathological changes at the level of the photoreceptors in small lesions among survivors of EVD with retinal lesions. The relevance of associated areas of dark without pressure remains undetermined.

Wide-field optical coherence tomography based microangiography for retinal imaging

PubMed Central

Zhang, Qinqin; Lee, Cecilia S.; Chao, Jennifer; Chen, Chieh-Li; Zhang, Thomas; Sharma, Utkarsh; Zhang, Anqi; Liu, Jin; Rezaei, Kasra; Pepple, Kathryn L.; Munsen, Richard; Kinyoun, James; Johnstone, Murray; Van Gelder, Russell N.; Wang, Ruikang K.

2016-01-01

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) allows for the evaluation of functional retinal vascular networks without a need for contrast dyes. For sophisticated monitoring and diagnosis of retinal diseases, OCTA capable of providing wide-field and high definition images of retinal vasculature in a single image is desirable. We report OCTA with motion tracking through an auxiliary real-time line scan ophthalmoscope that is clinically feasible to image functional retinal vasculature in patients, with a coverage of more than 60 degrees of retina while still maintaining high definition and resolution. We demonstrate six illustrative cases with unprecedented details of vascular involvement in retinal diseases. In each case, OCTA yields images of the normal and diseased microvasculature at all levels of the retina, with higher resolution than observed with fluorescein angiography. Wide-field OCTA technology will be an important next step in augmenting the utility of OCT technology in clinical practice. PMID:26912261

Wide-field optical coherence tomography based microangiography for retinal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qinqin; Lee, Cecilia S.; Chao, Jennifer; Chen, Chieh-Li; Zhang, Thomas; Sharma, Utkarsh; Zhang, Anqi; Liu, Jin; Rezaei, Kasra; Pepple, Kathryn L.; Munsen, Richard; Kinyoun, James; Johnstone, Murray; van Gelder, Russell N.; Wang, Ruikang K.

2016-02-01

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) allows for the evaluation of functional retinal vascular networks without a need for contrast dyes. For sophisticated monitoring and diagnosis of retinal diseases, OCTA capable of providing wide-field and high definition images of retinal vasculature in a single image is desirable. We report OCTA with motion tracking through an auxiliary real-time line scan ophthalmoscope that is clinically feasible to image functional retinal vasculature in patients, with a coverage of more than 60 degrees of retina while still maintaining high definition and resolution. We demonstrate six illustrative cases with unprecedented details of vascular involvement in retinal diseases. In each case, OCTA yields images of the normal and diseased microvasculature at all levels of the retina, with higher resolution than observed with fluorescein angiography. Wide-field OCTA technology will be an important next step in augmenting the utility of OCT technology in clinical practice.

Wide-field optical coherence tomography based microangiography for retinal imaging.

PubMed

Zhang, Qinqin; Lee, Cecilia S; Chao, Jennifer; Chen, Chieh-Li; Zhang, Thomas; Sharma, Utkarsh; Zhang, Anqi; Liu, Jin; Rezaei, Kasra; Pepple, Kathryn L; Munsen, Richard; Kinyoun, James; Johnstone, Murray; Van Gelder, Russell N; Wang, Ruikang K

2016-02-25

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) allows for the evaluation of functional retinal vascular networks without a need for contrast dyes. For sophisticated monitoring and diagnosis of retinal diseases, OCTA capable of providing wide-field and high definition images of retinal vasculature in a single image is desirable. We report OCTA with motion tracking through an auxiliary real-time line scan ophthalmoscope that is clinically feasible to image functional retinal vasculature in patients, with a coverage of more than 60 degrees of retina while still maintaining high definition and resolution. We demonstrate six illustrative cases with unprecedented details of vascular involvement in retinal diseases. In each case, OCTA yields images of the normal and diseased microvasculature at all levels of the retina, with higher resolution than observed with fluorescein angiography. Wide-field OCTA technology will be an important next step in augmenting the utility of OCT technology in clinical practice.

Serial sectioning for examination of photoreceptor cell architecture by focused ion beam technology

PubMed Central

Mustafi, Debarshi; Avishai, Amir; Avishai, Nanthawan; Engel, Andreas; Heuer, Arthur; Palczewski, Krzysztof

2011-01-01

Structurally deciphering complex neural networks requires technology with sufficient resolution to allow visualization of single cells and their intimate surrounding connections. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), coupled with serial ion ablation (SIA) technology, presents a new avenue to study these networks. SIA allows ion ablation to remove nanometer sections of tissue for SEM imaging, resulting in serial section data collection for three-dimensional reconstruction. Here we highlight a method for preparing retinal tissues for imaging of photoreceptors by SIA-SEM technology. We show that this technique can be used to visualize whole rod photoreceptors and the internal disc elements from wild-type (wt) mice. The distance parameters of the discs and photoreceptors are in good agreement with previous work with other methods. Moreover, we show that large planes of retinal tissue can be imaged at high resolution to display the packing of normal rods. Finally, SIA-SEM imaging of retinal tissue from a mouse model (Nrl−/−) with phenotypic changes akin to the human disease enhanced S-cone syndrome (ESCS) revealed a structural profile of overall photoreceptor ultrastructure and internal elements that accompany this disease. Overall, this work presents a new method to study photoreceptor cells at high structural resolution that has a broad applicability to the visual neuroscience field. PMID:21439323

Wavefront sensorless adaptive optics optical coherence tomography for in vivo retinal imaging in mice

PubMed Central

Jian, Yifan; Xu, Jing; Gradowski, Martin A.; Bonora, Stefano; Zawadzki, Robert J.; Sarunic, Marinko V.

2014-01-01

We present wavefront sensorless adaptive optics (WSAO) Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) for in vivo small animal retinal imaging. WSAO is attractive especially for mouse retinal imaging because it simplifies optical design and eliminates the need for wavefront sensing, which is difficult in the small animal eye. GPU accelerated processing of the OCT data permitted real-time extraction of image quality metrics (intensity) for arbitrarily selected retinal layers to be optimized. Modal control of a commercially available segmented deformable mirror (IrisAO Inc.) provided rapid convergence using a sequential search algorithm. Image quality improvements with WSAO OCT are presented for both pigmented and albino mouse retinal data, acquired in vivo. PMID:24575347

Retinal oxygen saturation evaluation by multi-spectral fundus imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khoobehi, Bahram; Ning, Jinfeng; Puissegur, Elise; Bordeaux, Kimberly; Balasubramanian, Madhusudhanan; Beach, James

2007-03-01

Purpose: To develop a multi-spectral method to measure oxygen saturation of the retina in the human eye. Methods: Five Cynomolgus monkeys with normal eyes were anesthetized with intramuscular ketamine/xylazine and intravenous pentobarbital. Multi-spectral fundus imaging was performed in five monkeys with a commercial fundus camera equipped with a liquid crystal tuned filter in the illumination light path and a 16-bit digital camera. Recording parameters were controlled with software written specifically for the application. Seven images at successively longer oxygen-sensing wavelengths were recorded within 4 seconds. Individual images for each wavelength were captured in less than 100 msec of flash illumination. Slightly misaligned images of separate wavelengths due to slight eye motion were registered and corrected by translational and rotational image registration prior to analysis. Numerical values of relative oxygen saturation of retinal arteries and veins and the underlying tissue in between the artery/vein pairs were evaluated by an algorithm previously described, but which is now corrected for blood volume from averaged pixels (n > 1000). Color saturation maps were constructed by applying the algorithm at each image pixel using a Matlab script. Results: Both the numerical values of relative oxygen saturation and the saturation maps correspond to the physiological condition, that is, in a normal retina, the artery is more saturated than the tissue and the tissue is more saturated than the vein. With the multi-spectral fundus camera and proper registration of the multi-wavelength images, we were able to determine oxygen saturation in the primate retinal structures on a tolerable time scale which is applicable to human subjects. Conclusions: Seven wavelength multi-spectral imagery can be used to measure oxygen saturation in retinal artery, vein, and tissue (microcirculation). This technique is safe and can be used to monitor oxygen uptake in humans. This work is original and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Zone specific fractal dimension of retinal images as predictor of stroke incidence.

PubMed

Aliahmad, Behzad; Kumar, Dinesh Kant; Hao, Hao; Unnikrishnan, Premith; Che Azemin, Mohd Zulfaezal; Kawasaki, Ryo; Mitchell, Paul

2014-01-01

Fractal dimensions (FDs) are frequently used for summarizing the complexity of retinal vascular. However, previous techniques on this topic were not zone specific. A new methodology to measure FD of a specific zone in retinal images has been developed and tested as a marker for stroke prediction. Higuchi's fractal dimension was measured in circumferential direction (FDC) with respect to optic disk (OD), in three concentric regions between OD boundary and 1.5 OD diameter from its margin. The significance of its association with future episode of stroke event was tested using the Blue Mountain Eye Study (BMES) database and compared against spectrum fractal dimension (SFD) and box-counting (BC) dimension. Kruskal-Wallis analysis revealed FDC as a better predictor of stroke (H = 5.80, P = 0.016, α = 0.05) compared with SFD (H = 0.51, P = 0.475, α = 0.05) and BC (H = 0.41, P = 0.520, α = 0.05) with overall lower median value for the cases compared to the control group. This work has shown that there is a significant association between zone specific FDC of eye fundus images with future episode of stroke while this difference is not significant when other FD methods are employed.

Enface Thickness Mapping and Reflectance Imaging of Retinal Layers in Diabetic Retinopathy.

PubMed

Francis, Andrew W; Wanek, Justin; Lim, Jennifer I; Shahidi, Mahnaz

2015-01-01

To present a method for image segmentation and generation of enface thickness maps and reflectance images of retinal layers in healthy and diabetic retinopathy (DR) subjects. High density spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) images were acquired in 10 healthy and 4 DR subjects. Customized image analysis software identified 5 retinal cell layer interfaces and generated thickness maps and reflectance images of the total retina (TR), inner retina (IR), outer retina (OR), and the inner segment ellipsoid (ISe) band. Thickness maps in DR subjects were compared to those of healthy subjects by generating deviation maps which displayed retinal locations with thickness below, within, and above the normal 95% confidence interval. In healthy subjects, TR and IR thickness maps displayed the foveal depression and increased thickness in the parafoveal region. OR and ISe thickness maps showed increased thickness at the fovea, consistent with normal retinal anatomy. In DR subjects, thickening and thinning in localized regions were demonstrated on TR, IR, OR, and ISe thickness maps, corresponding to retinal edema and atrophy, respectively. TR and OR reflectance images showed reduced reflectivity in regions of increased thickness. Hard exudates appeared as hyper-reflective spots in IR reflectance images and casted shadows on the deeper OR and ISe reflectance images. The ISe reflectance image clearly showed the presence of focal laser scars. Enface thickness mapping and reflectance imaging of retinal layers is a potentially useful method for quantifying the spatial and axial extent of pathologies due to DR.

Enface Thickness Mapping and Reflectance Imaging of Retinal Layers in Diabetic Retinopathy

PubMed Central

Francis, Andrew W.; Wanek, Justin; Lim, Jennifer I.; Shahidi, Mahnaz

2015-01-01

Purpose To present a method for image segmentation and generation of enface thickness maps and reflectance images of retinal layers in healthy and diabetic retinopathy (DR) subjects. Methods High density spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) images were acquired in 10 healthy and 4 DR subjects. Customized image analysis software identified 5 retinal cell layer interfaces and generated thickness maps and reflectance images of the total retina (TR), inner retina (IR), outer retina (OR), and the inner segment ellipsoid (ISe) band. Thickness maps in DR subjects were compared to those of healthy subjects by generating deviation maps which displayed retinal locations with thickness below, within, and above the normal 95% confidence interval. Results In healthy subjects, TR and IR thickness maps displayed the foveal depression and increased thickness in the parafoveal region. OR and ISe thickness maps showed increased thickness at the fovea, consistent with normal retinal anatomy. In DR subjects, thickening and thinning in localized regions were demonstrated on TR, IR, OR, and ISe thickness maps, corresponding to retinal edema and atrophy, respectively. TR and OR reflectance images showed reduced reflectivity in regions of increased thickness. Hard exudates appeared as hyper-reflective spots in IR reflectance images and casted shadows on the deeper OR and ISe reflectance images. The ISe reflectance image clearly showed the presence of focal laser scars. Conclusions Enface thickness mapping and reflectance imaging of retinal layers is a potentially useful method for quantifying the spatial and axial extent of pathologies due to DR. PMID:26699878

Imaging of single retinal ganglion cell with differential interference contrast microscopy (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Juyeong; Kim, Yu Jeong; Kim, Chul-Ki; Lee, Taik Jin; Seo, Mina; Lee, Seok; Woo, Deok Ha; Jun, Seong Chan; Park, Ki-Ho; Kim, Seok Hwan; Kim, Jae Hun

2017-02-01

Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy, characterized by the selective loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Therefore, monitoring the change of number or morphology of RGC is essential for the early detection as well as investigation of pathophysiology of glaucoma. Since RGC layer is transparent and hyporeflective, the direct optical visualization of RGCs has not been successful so far. Therefore, glaucoma evaluation mostly depends on indirect diagnostic methods such as the evaluation of optic disc morphology or retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurement by optical coherence tomography. We have previously demonstrated single photoreceptor cell imaging with differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy. Herein, we successfully visualized single RGC using DIC microscopy. Since RGC layer is much less reflective than photoreceptor layer, various techniques including the control of light wavelength and bandwidth using a tunable band pass filter were adopted to reduce the chromatic aberration in z-axis for higher and clearer resolution. To verify that the imaged cells were the RGCs, the flat-mounted retina of Sprague-Dawley rat, in which the RGCs were retrogradely labeled with fluorescence, was observed by both fluorescence and DIC microscopies for direct comparison. We have confirmed that the cell images obtained by fluorescence microscopy were perfectly matched with cell images by DIC microscopy. As conclusion, we have visualized single RGC with DIC microscopy, and confirmed with fluorescence microscopy.

EVEREST study report 3: diagnostic challenges of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. Lessons learnt from screening failures in the EVEREST study.

PubMed

Tan, Colin S; Ngo, Wei Kiong; Lim, Louis W; Tan, Nikolle W; Lim, Tock H

2016-10-01

To describe screening failures in the EVEREST study by examining the imaging characteristics that enabled differentiation of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) from cases that were subsequently diagnosed not to be PCV. Post-hoc analysis of 34 patients with PCV reported as screening failures from EVEREST study. Standardised confocal scanning laser indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) images were graded by the Central Reading Centre to confirm PCV diagnosis based on the presence of early focal sub-retinal hyperfluorescence on ICGA and at least one of the following six diagnostic criteria: (1) nodular appearance of polyp(s) on stereoscopic examination, (2) hypofluorescent halo around nodule(s), (3) presence of a branching vascular network, (4) pulsation of polyp(s) on dynamic ICGA, (5) orange sub-retinal nodules on colour fundus photography, or (6) massive sub-macular haemorrhage (≥4 disc areas in size). Additional detailed image grading was performed with stereo-imaging and dynamic early-phase ICGA. Of the 95 screened PCV cases, 34 were excluded: (1) cases not suitable for recruitment as per the study protocol (n = 14), (2) equivocal lesions on ICGA characterised by small hyperfluorescent dots (n = 9), and (3) cases that were definitely not PCV (non-PCV, n = 11), identified by definitive diagnoses which included one case each of micro-aneurysm, retinal angiomatous proliferation, retino-choroidal anastomosis, small type-2 choroidal neovascularisation, retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) window defect and disciform scar; two cases of lesions where the choroidal vessel changed its course; and three cases of late-onset RPE staining. Standardised image grading techniques used in EVEREST study enabled effective differentiation of non-PCV from actual PCV.

Dynamic simulation of the effect of soft toric contact lenses movement on retinal image quality.

PubMed

Niu, Yafei; Sarver, Edwin J; Stevenson, Scott B; Marsack, Jason D; Parker, Katrina E; Applegate, Raymond A

2008-04-01

To report the development of a tool designed to dynamically simulate the effect of soft toric contact lens movement on retinal image quality, initial findings on three eyes, and the next steps to be taken to improve the utility of the tool. Three eyes of two subjects wearing soft toric contact lenses were cyclopleged with 1% cyclopentolate and 2.5% phenylephrine. Four hundred wavefront aberration measurements over a 5-mm pupil were recorded during soft contact lens wear at 30 Hz using a complete ophthalmic analysis system aberrometer. Each wavefront error measurement was input into Visual Optics Laboratory (version 7.15, Sarver and Associates, Inc.) to generate a retinal simulation of a high contrast log MAR visual acuity chart. The individual simulations were combined into a single dynamic movie using a custom MatLab PsychToolbox program. Visual acuity was measured for each eye reading the movie with best cycloplegic spectacle correction through a 3-mm artificial pupil to minimize the influence of the eyes' uncorrected aberrations. Comparison of the simulated acuity was made to values recorded while the subject read unaberrated charts with contact lenses through a 5-mm artificial pupil. For one study eye, average acuity was the same as the natural contact lens viewing condition. For the other two study eyes visual acuity of the best simulation was more than one line worse than natural viewing conditions. Dynamic simulation of retinal image quality, although not yet perfect, is a promising technique for visually illustrating the optical effects on image quality because of the movements of alignment-sensitive corrections.

Feature-Based Retinal Image Registration Using D-Saddle Feature

PubMed Central

Hasikin, Khairunnisa; A. Karim, Noor Khairiah; Ahmedy, Fatimah

2017-01-01

Retinal image registration is important to assist diagnosis and monitor retinal diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. However, registering retinal images for various registration applications requires the detection and distribution of feature points on the low-quality region that consists of vessels of varying contrast and sizes. A recent feature detector known as Saddle detects feature points on vessels that are poorly distributed and densely positioned on strong contrast vessels. Therefore, we propose a multiresolution difference of Gaussian pyramid with Saddle detector (D-Saddle) to detect feature points on the low-quality region that consists of vessels with varying contrast and sizes. D-Saddle is tested on Fundus Image Registration (FIRE) Dataset that consists of 134 retinal image pairs. Experimental results show that D-Saddle successfully registered 43% of retinal image pairs with average registration accuracy of 2.329 pixels while a lower success rate is observed in other four state-of-the-art retinal image registration methods GDB-ICP (28%), Harris-PIIFD (4%), H-M (16%), and Saddle (16%). Furthermore, the registration accuracy of D-Saddle has the weakest correlation (Spearman) with the intensity uniformity metric among all methods. Finally, the paired t-test shows that D-Saddle significantly improved the overall registration accuracy of the original Saddle. PMID:29204257

3D Reconstruction of the Retinal Arterial Tree Using Subject-Specific Fundus Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, D.; Wood, N. B.; Xu, X. Y.; Witt, N.; Hughes, A. D.; Samcg, Thom

Systemic diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, are associated with changes in the retinal microvasculature. Although a number of studies have been performed on the quantitative assessment of the geometrical patterns of the retinal vasculature, previous work has been confined to 2 dimensional (2D) analyses. In this paper, we present an approach to obtain a 3D reconstruction of the retinal arteries from a pair of 2D retinal images acquired in vivo. A simple essential matrix based self-calibration approach was employed for the "fundus camera-eye" system. Vessel segmentation was performed using a semi-automatic approach and correspondence between points from different images was calculated. The results of 3D reconstruction show the centreline of retinal vessels and their 3D curvature clearly. Three-dimensional reconstruction of the retinal vessels is feasible and may be useful in future studies of the retinal vasculature in disease.

Repair of Total Tractional Retinal Detachment in Norrie Disease: Report of Technique and Successful Surgical Outcome.

PubMed

Todorich, Bozho; Thanos, Aristomenis; Yonekawa, Yoshihiro; Capone, Antonio

2017-03-01

Norrie disease is a rare, but devastating cause of pediatric retinal detachment, universally portending a poor visual prognosis. This paper describes successful surgical management of an infant with total retinal detachment associated with Norrie disease mutation. The infant was a full-term white male who presented with bilateral total funnel retinal detachments (RDs). He underwent genetic testing, which demonstrated single-point mutation 133 G>A transition in exon 2 of the NDP gene. The retinal detachment was managed with translimbal iridectomy, lensectomy, capsulectomy, and vitrectomy. Careful dissection of the retrolental membranes resulted in opening of the funnel. Single-stage surgery in this child's eye achieved re-attachment of the posterior pole with progressive reabsorption of subretinal fluid and cholesterol without the need for external drainage. Fluorescein angiography, performed at 2 months postoperatively, demonstrated perfusion of major vascular arcades, but with significant abnormalities and aneurysmal changes of higher-order vessels, suggestive of retinal and vascular dysplasia. The child has maintained brisk light perception vision. Early surgical intervention with careful dissection of tractional tissues can potentially result in good anatomic outcomes in some patients with Norrie disease-associated retinal detachment. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2017;48:260-262.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

An exudate detection method for diagnosis risk of diabetic macular edema in retinal images using feature-based and supervised classification.

PubMed

Marin, D; Gegundez-Arias, M E; Ponte, B; Alvarez, F; Garrido, J; Ortega, C; Vasallo, M J; Bravo, J M

2018-01-10

The present paper aims at presenting the methodology and first results of a detection system of risk of diabetic macular edema (DME) in fundus images. The system is based on the detection of retinal exudates (Ex), whose presence in the image is clinically used for an early diagnosis of the disease. To do so, the system applies digital image processing algorithms to the retinal image in order to obtain a set of candidate regions to be Ex, which are validated by means of feature extraction and supervised classification techniques. The diagnoses provided by the system on 1058 retinographies of 529 diabetic patients at risk of having DME show that the system can operate at a level of sensitivity comparable to that of ophthalmological specialists: it achieved 0.9000 sensitivity per patient against 0.7733, 0.9133 and 0.9000 of several specialists, where the false negatives were mild clinical cases of the disease. In addition, the level of specificity reached by the system was 0.6939, high enough to screen about 70% of the patients with no evidence of DME. These values show that the system fulfils the requirements for its possible integration into a complete diabetic retinopathy pre-screening tool for the automated management of patients within a screening programme. Graphical Abstract Diagnosis system of risk of diabetic macular edema (DME) based on exudate (Ex) detection in fundus images.

[Bilateral abnormalities in central serous chorioretinopathy seen in optical coherence tomography, ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography and microperimetry--case report].

PubMed

Tylus, Magdalena; Święch-Zubilewicz, Anna; Dolar-Szczasny, Joanna; Mackiewicz, Jerzy

2015-01-01

Central serous chorioretinopathy is a common retinopathy, which is manifested by the idiopathic detachment of the neurosensory retina in the posterior pole, secondary to fluid leakage from choroidal vessels at the level of retinal pigment epithelium. The disease is typically unilateral and affects young men. We present a case of a 48-year old man, admitted to the Department of Vitreo-Retinal Surgery, Medical University in Lublin, reporting vision impairment in his right eye. The bilateral ocular exam followed by optical coherence tomography, ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography and microperimetry revealed bilateral central serous chorioretinopathy. This case presents a bilateral manifestation of central serous chorioretinopathy and emphasizes the role of advanced diagnostic imaging techniques in analyzing retinal function and disease management.

A Machine Learning Ensemble Classifier for Early Prediction of Diabetic Retinopathy.

PubMed

S K, Somasundaram; P, Alli

2017-11-09

The main complication of diabetes is Diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinal vascular disease and it leads to the blindness. Regular screening for early DR disease detection is considered as an intensive labor and resource oriented task. Therefore, automatic detection of DR diseases is performed only by using the computational technique is the great solution. An automatic method is more reliable to determine the presence of an abnormality in Fundus images (FI) but, the classification process is poorly performed. Recently, few research works have been designed for analyzing texture discrimination capacity in FI to distinguish the healthy images. However, the feature extraction (FE) process was not performed well, due to the high dimensionality. Therefore, to identify retinal features for DR disease diagnosis and early detection using Machine Learning and Ensemble Classification method, called, Machine Learning Bagging Ensemble Classifier (ML-BEC) is designed. The ML-BEC method comprises of two stages. The first stage in ML-BEC method comprises extraction of the candidate objects from Retinal Images (RI). The candidate objects or the features for DR disease diagnosis include blood vessels, optic nerve, neural tissue, neuroretinal rim, optic disc size, thickness and variance. These features are initially extracted by applying Machine Learning technique called, t-distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE). Besides, t-SNE generates a probability distribution across high-dimensional images where the images are separated into similar and dissimilar pairs. Then, t-SNE describes a similar probability distribution across the points in the low-dimensional map. This lessens the Kullback-Leibler divergence among two distributions regarding the locations of the points on the map. The second stage comprises of application of ensemble classifiers to the extracted features for providing accurate analysis of digital FI using machine learning. In this stage, an automatic detection of DR screening system using Bagging Ensemble Classifier (BEC) is investigated. With the help of voting the process in ML-BEC, bagging minimizes the error due to variance of the base classifier. With the publicly available retinal image databases, our classifier is trained with 25% of RI. Results show that the ensemble classifier can achieve better classification accuracy (CA) than single classification models. Empirical experiments suggest that the machine learning-based ensemble classifier is efficient for further reducing DR classification time (CT).

Adaptive-optics SLO imaging combined with widefield OCT and SLO enables precise 3D localization of fluorescent cells in the mouse retina.

PubMed

Zawadzki, Robert J; Zhang, Pengfei; Zam, Azhar; Miller, Eric B; Goswami, Mayank; Wang, Xinlei; Jonnal, Ravi S; Lee, Sang-Hyuck; Kim, Dae Yu; Flannery, John G; Werner, John S; Burns, Marie E; Pugh, Edward N

2015-06-01

Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AO-SLO) has recently been used to achieve exquisite subcellular resolution imaging of the mouse retina. Wavefront sensing-based AO typically restricts the field of view to a few degrees of visual angle. As a consequence the relationship between AO-SLO data and larger scale retinal structures and cellular patterns can be difficult to assess. The retinal vasculature affords a large-scale 3D map on which cells and structures can be located during in vivo imaging. Phase-variance OCT (pv-OCT) can efficiently image the vasculature with near-infrared light in a label-free manner, allowing 3D vascular reconstruction with high precision. We combined widefield pv-OCT and SLO imaging with AO-SLO reflection and fluorescence imaging to localize two types of fluorescent cells within the retinal layers: GFP-expressing microglia, the resident macrophages of the retina, and GFP-expressing cone photoreceptor cells. We describe in detail a reflective afocal AO-SLO retinal imaging system designed for high resolution retinal imaging in mice. The optical performance of this instrument is compared to other state-of-the-art AO-based mouse retinal imaging systems. The spatial and temporal resolution of the new AO instrumentation was characterized with angiography of retinal capillaries, including blood-flow velocity analysis. Depth-resolved AO-SLO fluorescent images of microglia and cone photoreceptors are visualized in parallel with 469 nm and 663 nm reflectance images of the microvasculature and other structures. Additional applications of the new instrumentation are discussed.

Imaging of the peripheral retina

PubMed Central

Kernt, Marcus; Kampik, Anselm

2013-01-01

The technical progress of the recent years has revolutionized imaging in ophthalmology. Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO), digital angiography, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and detection of fundus autofluorescence (FAF) have fundamentally changed our understanding of numerous retinal and choroidal diseases. Besides the tremendous advances in macular diagnostics, there is more and more evidence that central pathologies are often directly linked to changes in the peripheral retina. This review provides a brief overview on current posterior segment imaging techniques with a special focus on the peripheral retina. PMID:24391370

A Novel Image Recuperation Approach for Diagnosing and Ranking Retinopathy Disease Level Using Diabetic Fundus Image

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Retinal fundus images are widely used in diagnosing and providing treatment for several eye diseases. Prior works using retinal fundus images detected the presence of exudation with the aid of publicly available dataset using extensive segmentation process. Though it was proved to be computationally efficient, it failed to create a diabetic retinopathy feature selection system for transparently diagnosing the disease state. Also the diagnosis of diseases did not employ machine learning methods to categorize candidate fundus images into true positive and true negative ratio. Several candidate fundus images did not include more detailed feature selection technique for diabetic retinopathy. To apply machine learning methods and classify the candidate fundus images on the basis of sliding window a method called, Diabetic Fundus Image Recuperation (DFIR) is designed in this paper. The initial phase of DFIR method select the feature of optic cup in digital retinal fundus images based on Sliding Window Approach. With this, the disease state for diabetic retinopathy is assessed. The feature selection in DFIR method uses collection of sliding windows to obtain the features based on the histogram value. The histogram based feature selection with the aid of Group Sparsity Non-overlapping function provides more detailed information of features. Using Support Vector Model in the second phase, the DFIR method based on Spiral Basis Function effectively ranks the diabetic retinopathy diseases. The ranking of disease level for each candidate set provides a much promising result for developing practically automated diabetic retinopathy diagnosis system. Experimental work on digital fundus images using the DFIR method performs research on the factors such as sensitivity, specificity rate, ranking efficiency and feature selection time. PMID:25974230

Comparisons Between Histology and Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography of the Periarterial Capillary-Free Zone.

PubMed

Balaratnasingam, Chandrakumar; An, Dong; Sakurada, Yoichi; Lee, Cecilia S; Lee, Aaron Y; McAllister, Ian L; Freund, K Bailey; Sarunic, Marinko; Yu, Dao-Yi

2018-05-01

To use the capillary-free zone along retinal arteries, a physiologic area of superficial avascularization, as an anatomic paradigm to investigate the reliability of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) for visualizing the deep retinal circulation. Validity analysis and laboratory investigation. Five normal human donor eyes (mean age 69.8 years) were perfusion-labeled with endothelial antibodies and the capillary networks of the perifovea were visualized using confocal scanning laser microscopy. Regions of the capillary-free zone along the retinal artery were imaged using OCTA in 16 normal subjects (age range 24-51 years). Then, 3 × 3-mm scans were acquired using the RTVue XR Avanti (ver. 2016.1.0.26; Optovue, Inc, Fremont, California, USA), PLEX Elite 9000 (ver. 1.5.0.15909; Zeiss Meditec, Inc, Dublin, California, USA), Heidelberg Spectralis OCT2 (Family acquisition module 6.7.21.0; Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany), and DRI-OCT Triton (Ver. 1.1.1; Topcon Corp, Tokyo, Japan). Images of the superficial plexus, deep vascular plexus, and a slab containing all vascular plexuses were generated using manufacturer-recommended default settings. Comparisons between histology and OCTA were performed. Histologic analysis revealed that the capillary-free zone along the retinal artery was confined to the plane of the superficial capillary plexus and did not include the intermediate and deep capillary plexuses. Images derived from OCTA instruments demonstrated a prominent capillary-free zone along the retinal artery in slabs of the superficial plexus, deep plexus, and all capillary plexuses. The number of deep retinal capillaries seen in the capillary-free zone was significantly greater on histology than on OCTA (P < .001). Using the capillary-free zone as an anatomic paradigm, we show that the deep vascular beds of the retina are not completely visualized using OCTA. This may be a limitation of current OCTA techniques. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A semi-automated technique for labeling and counting of apoptosing retinal cells

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss is one of the earliest and most important cellular changes in glaucoma. The DARC (Detection of Apoptosing Retinal Cells) technology enables in vivo real-time non-invasive imaging of single apoptosing retinal cells in animal models of glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease. To date, apoptosing RGCs imaged using DARC have been counted manually. This is time-consuming, labour-intensive, vulnerable to bias, and has considerable inter- and intra-operator variability. Results A semi-automated algorithm was developed which enabled automated identification of apoptosing RGCs labeled with fluorescent Annexin-5 on DARC images. Automated analysis included a pre-processing stage involving local-luminance and local-contrast “gain control”, a “blob analysis” step to differentiate between cells, vessels and noise, and a method to exclude non-cell structures using specific combined ‘size’ and ‘aspect’ ratio criteria. Apoptosing retinal cells were counted by 3 masked operators, generating ‘Gold-standard’ mean manual cell counts, and were also counted using the newly developed automated algorithm. Comparison between automated cell counts and the mean manual cell counts on 66 DARC images showed significant correlation between the two methods (Pearson’s correlation coefficient 0.978 (p < 0.001), R Squared = 0.956. The Intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.986 (95% CI 0.977-0.991, p < 0.001), and Cronbach’s alpha measure of consistency = 0.986, confirming excellent correlation and consistency. No significant difference (p = 0.922, 95% CI: −5.53 to 6.10) was detected between the cell counts of the two methods. Conclusions The novel automated algorithm enabled accurate quantification of apoptosing RGCs that is highly comparable to manual counting, and appears to minimise operator-bias, whilst being both fast and reproducible. This may prove to be a valuable method of quantifying apoptosing retinal cells, with particular relevance to translation in the clinic, where a Phase I clinical trial of DARC in glaucoma patients is due to start shortly. PMID:24902592

LONGITUDINAL STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN LATE-ONSET RETINAL DEGENERATION.

PubMed

Cukras, Catherine; Flamendorf, Jason; Wong, Wai T; Ayyagari, Radha; Cunningham, Denise; Sieving, Paul A

2016-12-01

To characterize longitudinal structural changes in early stages of late-onset retinal degeneration to investigate pathogenic mechanisms. Two affected siblings, both with a S163R missense mutation in the causative gene C1QTNF5, were followed for 8+ years. Color fundus photos, fundus autofluorescence images, near-infrared reflectance fundus images, and spectral domain optical coherence tomography scans were acquired during follow-up. Both patients, aged 45 and 50 years, had good visual acuities (>20/20) in the context of prolonged dark adaptation. Baseline color fundus photography demonstrated yellow-white, punctate lesions in the temporal macula that correlated with a reticular pattern on fundus autofluorescence and near-infrared reflectance imaging. Baseline spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging revealed subretinal deposits that resemble reticular pseudodrusen described in age-related macular degeneration. During follow-up, these affected areas developed confluent thickening of the retinal pigment epithelial layer and disruption of the ellipsoid zone of photoreceptors before progressing to overt retinal pigment epithelium and outer retinal atrophy. Structural changes in early stages of late-onset retinal degeneration, revealed by multimodal imaging, resemble those of reticular pseudodrusen observed in age-related macular degeneration and other retinal diseases. Longitudinal follow-up of these lesions helps elucidate their progression to frank atrophy and may lend insight into the pathogenic mechanisms underlying diverse retinal degenerations.

The effect of JPEG compression on automated detection of microaneurysms in retinal images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cree, M. J.; Jelinek, H. F.

2008-02-01

As JPEG compression at source is ubiquitous in retinal imaging, and the block artefacts introduced are known to be of similar size to microaneurysms (an important indicator of diabetic retinopathy) it is prudent to evaluate the effect of JPEG compression on automated detection of retinal pathology. Retinal images were acquired at high quality and then compressed to various lower qualities. An automated microaneurysm detector was run on the retinal images of various qualities of JPEG compression and the ability to predict the presence of diabetic retinopathy based on the detected presence of microaneurysms was evaluated with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) methodology. The negative effect of JPEG compression on automated detection was observed even at levels of compression sometimes used in retinal eye-screening programmes and these may have important clinical implications for deciding on acceptable levels of compression for a fully automated eye-screening programme.

Modeling Photo-Bleaching Kinetics to Create High Resolution Maps of Rod Rhodopsin in the Human Retina

PubMed Central

Ehler, Martin; Dobrosotskaya, Julia; Cunningham, Denise; Wong, Wai T.; Chew, Emily Y.; Czaja, Wojtek; Bonner, Robert F.

2015-01-01

We introduce and describe a novel non-invasive in-vivo method for mapping local rod rhodopsin distribution in the human retina over a 30-degree field. Our approach is based on analyzing the brightening of detected lipofuscin autofluorescence within small pixel clusters in registered imaging sequences taken with a commercial 488nm confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (cSLO) over a 1 minute period. We modeled the kinetics of rhodopsin bleaching by applying variational optimization techniques from applied mathematics. The physical model and the numerical analysis with its implementation are outlined in detail. This new technique enables the creation of spatial maps of the retinal rhodopsin and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) bisretinoid distribution with an ≈ 50μm resolution. PMID:26196397

Eye shape using partial coherence interferometry, autorefraction, and SD-OCT.

PubMed

Clark, Christopher A; Elsner, Ann E; Konynenbelt, Benjamin J

2015-01-01

Peripheral refraction and retinal shape may influence refractive development. Peripheral refraction has been shown to have a high degree of variability and can take considerable time to perform. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and peripheral axial length measures may be more reliable, assuming that the retinal position is more important than the peripheral optics of the lens/cornea. Seventy-nine subjects' right eyes were imaged for this study (age range, 22 to 34 years; refractive error, -10 to +5.00). Thirty-degree SD-OCT (Spectralis, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) images were collected in a radial pattern along with peripheral refraction with an autorefractor (Shin-Nippon Autorefractor) and peripheral axial length measurements with partial coherence interferometry (IOLMaster, Zeiss). Statistics were performed using repeated-measures analysis of variance in SPSS (IBM, Armonk, NY), Bland-Altman analyses, and regression. All measures were converted to diopters to allow direct comparison. Spectral domain OCT showed a retinal shape with an increased curvature for myopes compared with emmetropes/hyperopes. This retinal shape change became significant around 5 degrees. The SD-OCT analysis for retinal shape provides a resolution of 0.026 diopters, which is about 10 times more accurate than using autorefraction (AR) or clinical refractive techniques. Bland-Altman analyses suggest that retinal shape measured by SD-OCT and the partial coherence interferometry method were more consistent with one another than either was with AR. With more accurate measures of retinal shape using SD-OCT, consistent differences between emmetropes/hyperopes and myopes were found nearer to the fovea than previously reported. Retinal shape may be influenced by central refractive error, and not merely peripheral optics. Partial coherence interferometry and SD-OCT appear to be more accurate than AR, which may be influenced by other factors such as fixation and accommodation. Autorefraction does measure the optics directly, which may be a strength of that method.

Multimodal imaging in a case of bilateral outer retinitis associated with mumps infection.

PubMed

Kahloun, Rim; Ben Amor, Hager; Ksiaa, Imen; Zina, Sourour; Jelliti, Bechir; Ben Yahia, Salim; Khairallah, Moncef

2018-02-01

To report the results of multimodal imaging of acute outer retinitis associated to mumps infection. A patient with mumps-associated outer retinitis evaluated by color fundus photography, spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), optical coherence tomography angiography, fundus autofluorescence (FAF), fluorescein angiography (FA), and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA). We report a case of a 12-year-old boy who developed bilateral outer retinitis related to mumps. Ophthalmoscopy showed confluent areas of outer retinitis involving the posterior pole and the periphery with a centrifugal gyrate pattern. SD-OCT revealed a marked disorganization of the outer retinal layers with multiple highly reflective spicules. FA shows diffuse late hyperfluorescence with optic disk staining. ICGA shows macular and peripheral hyperfluorescent lesions with a geographical pattern in the late phases. The patient was treated with acyclovir and oral prednisone. Four weeks after presentation visual acuity remained unchanged, and retinal changes seen at the acute phase had resolved leading to extensive retinal atrophy and optic disk pallor. SD-OCT showed atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelial and outer retinal layers. FAF revealed scattered hyperautofluorescent lesions. Electrophysiology showed generalized retinal dysfunction. Mumps infection should be considered in the differential diagnosis of bilateral necrotizing outer retinitis in children and young adults. A multimodal imaging approach may help distinguish mumps-associated retinitis from other causes of viral retinitis and facilitate appropriate management.

Bright Retinal Lesions Detection using Colour Fundus Images Containing Reflective Features

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Giancardo, Luca; Karnowski, Thomas Paul; Chaum, Edward

2009-01-01

In the last years the research community has developed many techniques to detect and diagnose diabetic retinopathy with retinal fundus images. This is a necessary step for the implementation of a large scale screening effort in rural areas where ophthalmologists are not available. In the United States of America, the incidence of diabetes is worryingly increasing among the young population. Retina fundus images of patients younger than 20 years old present a high amount of reflection due to the Nerve Fibre Layer (NFL), the younger the patient the more these reflections are visible. To our knowledge we are not awaremore » of algorithms able to explicitly deal with this type of reflection artefact. This paper presents a technique to detect bright lesions also in patients with a high degree of reflective NFL. First, the candidate bright lesions are detected using image equalization and relatively simple histogram analysis. Then, a classifier is trained using texture descriptor (Multi-scale Local Binary Patterns) and other features in order to remove the false positives in the lesion detection. Finally, the area of the lesions is used to diagnose diabetic retinopathy. Our database consists of 33 images from a telemedicine network currently developed. When determining moderate to high diabetic retinopathy using the bright lesions detected the algorithm achieves a sensitivity of 100% at a specificity of 100% using hold-one-out testing.« less

Spectral reflectance of the ocular fundus as a diagnostic marker for cerebral malaria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xun; Rice, David A.; Khoobehi, Bahram

2012-03-01

The challenge of correctly identifying malaria infection continues to impede our efforts to control this disease. Recent studies report highly specific retinal changes in severe malaria patients; these retinal changes may represent a very useful diagnostic indicator for this disease. To further explore the ocular manifestations of malaria, we used hyperspectral imaging to study retinal changes caused by Plasmodium berghei ANKA parasitization in a mouse model. We collected the spectral reflectance of the ocular fundus from hyperspectral images of the mouse eye. The blood oxygen sensitive spectral region was normalized for variances in illumination, and used to calculate relative values that correspond to oxygenated hemoglobin levels. Oxygen hemoglobin levels are markedly lower in parasitized mice, indicating that hemoglobin digestion by P. berghei may be detected using spectral reflectance. Furthermore, the ocular reflectance of parasitized mice was abnormally elevated between 660nm and 750nm, suggesting fluorescence in this region. While the source of this fluorescence is not yet clear, its presence correlates strongly with P. Berghei parasitization, and may indicate the presence of hemozoin deposits in the retinal vasculature. The pathology of severe malaria still presents many questions for clinicians and scientists, and our understanding of cerebral malaria has been generally confined to clinical observation and postmortem examination. As the retina represents a portion of the central nervous system that can be easily examined noninvasively, our technique may provide the basis for an automated tool to detect and examine severe malaria via retinal changes.

Retinal imaging using adaptive optics technology☆

PubMed Central

Kozak, Igor

2014-01-01

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effect of wave front distortions. Retinal imaging using AO aims to compensate for higher order aberrations originating from the cornea and the lens by using deformable mirror. The main application of AO retinal imaging has been to assess photoreceptor cell density, spacing, and mosaic regularity in normal and diseased eyes. Apart from photoreceptors, the retinal pigment epithelium, retinal nerve fiber layer, retinal vessel wall and lamina cribrosa can also be visualized with AO technology. Recent interest in AO technology in eye research has resulted in growing number of reports and publications utilizing this technology in both animals and humans. With the availability of first commercially available instruments we are making transformation of AO technology from a research tool to diagnostic instrument. The current challenges include imaging eyes with less than perfect optical media, formation of normative databases for acquired images such as cone mosaics, and the cost of the technology. The opportunities for AO will include more detailed diagnosis with description of some new findings in retinal diseases and glaucoma as well as expansion of AO into clinical trials which has already started. PMID:24843304

Pain and stress assessment after retinopathy of prematurity screening examination: Indirect ophthalmoscopy versus digital retinal imaging

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Increasingly, neonatal clinics seek to minimize painful experiences and stress for premature infants. Fundoscopy performed with a binocular indirect ophthalmoscope is the reference examination technique for screening of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and it is associated with pain and stress. Wide-field digital retinal imaging is a recent technique that should be evaluated for minimizing infant pain and stress. Methods The purpose of the study was to assess and compare the impact of using a binocular indirect ophthalmoscope (BIO), or wide-field digital retinal imaging (WFDRI) on pain and stress in infants undergoing ROP screening examination. This was a comparative evaluation study of two screening procedures. Ophthalmologic examinations (N = 70) were performed on 24 infants with both BIO and WFDRI. Pain assessments were performed with two specific neonatal scales (Crying, requires oxygen, increased vital signs, expression and sleeplessness, CRIES and, Premature infant pain profile, PIPP) just prior to the examination, and 30 seconds, 1 hour, and 24 hours later after ending the examination. Results Changes over time were significantly different between BIO and WFDRI with both scales (PIPP score, p = .007, and CRIES score, p = .001). Median PIPP score (interquartile interval) at baseline was 4 (3–5). At 30 seconds the score was 8 (6–9) for BIO and 6 (5–7) for WFDRI, respectively. The increase in PIPP score between baseline and 30 seconds was significantly lower with WFDRI (p = .006). The median increase in CRIES score from baseline to 30 seconds was 1 point lower for WFDRI than for BIO (p < .001). No significant difference in response remained at 1 hour or 24 hour assessments. Conclusions A transient short-term pain and stress response occurs with both BIO and WFDRI. Infants examined for screening of ROP with digital retinal imaging present less pain and stress at 30 seconds following completion of the exam when compared with binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy. PMID:22928523

WIDEFIELD SPECTRAL-DOMAIN OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY IMAGING OF PERIPHERAL ROUND RETINAL HOLES WITH OR WITHOUT RETINAL DETACHMENT.

PubMed

Casswell, Edward J; Abou Ltaif, Sleiman; Carr, Thomas; Keane, Pearse A; Charteris, David G; Wickham, Louisa

2018-03-02

To describe the widefield spectral-domain optical coherence tomography features of peripheral round retinal holes, with or without associated retinal detachment (RD). Retrospective, observational study of 28 eyes with peripheral round retinal holes, with and without RD. Patients underwent imaging with a widefield 50-degree spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (Heidelberg Engineering, Germany) and Optos ultra-widefield imaging systems (Optos, United Kingdom). Vitreous attachment at the site of the retinal hole was detected in 27/28 (96.4%) cases. Cases were split into three groups: RHs with RD (n = 12); RHs with subretinal fluid (n = 5), and flat RHs (n = 11), with minimal or no subretinal fluid. 91.6% retinal holes associated with subretinal fluid or RD had vitreous attachment at the site of the hole. Eighty percent had vitreous attachment at both edges of the retinal hole, in a U-shape configuration, which appeared to exert traction. By contrast, flat retinal holes had visible vitreous attachment only at one edge of the retinal hole in 45.4%. Vitreous attachment was commonly seen at the site of round retinal holes. Vitreous attachment at both edges of the retinal hole in a U-shape configuration was more commonly seen at holes associated with subretinal fluid or RD.

Safety assessment in macaques of light exposures for functional two-photon ophthalmoscopy in humans

PubMed Central

Schwarz, Christina; Sharma, Robin; Fischer, William S.; Chung, Mina; Palczewska, Grazyna; Palczewski, Krzysztof; Williams, David R.; Hunter, Jennifer J.

2016-01-01

Two-photon ophthalmoscopy has potential for in vivo assessment of function of normal and diseased retina. However, light safety of the sub-100 fs laser typically used is a major concern and safety standards are not well established. To test the feasibility of safe in vivo two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) imaging of photoreceptors in humans, we examined the effects of ultrashort pulsed light and the required light levels with a variety of clinical and high resolution imaging methods in macaques. The only measure that revealed a significant effect due to exposure to pulsed light within existing safety standards was infrared autofluorescence (IRAF) intensity. No other structural or functional alterations were detected by other imaging techniques for any of the exposures. Photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium appeared normal in adaptive optics images. No effect of repeated exposures on TPEF time course was detected, suggesting that visual cycle function was maintained. If IRAF reduction is hazardous, it is the only hurdle to applying two-photon retinal imaging in humans. To date, no harmful effects of IRAF reduction have been detected. PMID:28018732

Effect of software manipulation (Photoshop) of digitised retinal images on the grading of diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed

George, L D; Lusty, J; Owens, D R; Ollerton, R L

1999-08-01

To determine whether software processing of digitised retinal images using a "sharpen" filter improves the ability to grade diabetic retinopathy. 150 macula centred retinal images were taken as 35 mm colour transparencies representing a spectrum of diabetic retinopathy, digitised, and graded in random order before and after the application of a sharpen filter (Adobe Photoshop). Digital enhancement of contrast and brightness was performed and a X2 digital zoom was utilised. The grades from the unenhanced and enhanced digitised images were compared with the same retinal fields viewed as slides. Overall agreement in retinopathy grade from the digitised images improved from 83.3% (125/150) to 94.0% (141/150) with sight threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR) correctly identified in 95.5% (84/88) and 98.9% (87/88) of cases when using unenhanced and enhanced images respectively. In total, five images were overgraded and four undergraded from the enhanced images compared with 17 and eight images respectively when using unenhanced images. This study demonstrates that the already good agreement in grading performance can be further improved by software manipulation or processing of digitised retinal images.

Effect of software manipulation (Photoshop) of digitised retinal images on the grading of diabetic retinopathy

PubMed Central

George, L; Lusty, J; Owens, D; Ollerton, R

1999-01-01

AIMS—To determine whether software processing of digitised retinal images using a "sharpen" filter improves the ability to grade diabetic retinopathy.
METHODS—150 macula centred retinal images were taken as 35 mm colour transparencies representing a spectrum of diabetic retinopathy, digitised, and graded in random order before and after the application of a sharpen filter (Adobe Photoshop). Digital enhancement of contrast and brightness was performed and a X2 digital zoom was utilised. The grades from the unenhanced and enhanced digitised images were compared with the same retinal fields viewed as slides.
RESULTS—Overall agreement in retinopathy grade from the digitised images improved from 83.3% (125/150) to 94.0% (141/150) with sight threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR) correctly identified in 95.5% (84/88) and 98.9% (87/88) of cases when using unenhanced and enhanced images respectively. In total, five images were overgraded and four undergraded from the enhanced images compared with 17 and eight images respectively when using unenhanced images.
CONCLUSION—This study demonstrates that the already good agreement in grading performance can be further improved by software manipulation or processing of digitised retinal images.

 PMID:10413691

Imaging of retinal and choroidal vascular tumours

PubMed Central

Heimann, H; Jmor, F; Damato, B

2013-01-01

The most common intraocular vascular tumours are choroidal haemangiomas, vasoproliferative tumours, and retinal haemangioblastomas. Rarer conditions include cavernous retinal angioma and arteriovenous malformations. Options for ablating the tumour include photodynamic therapy, argon laser photocoagulation, trans-scleral diathermy, cryotherapy, anti-angiogenic agents, plaque radiotherapy, and proton beam radiotherapy. Secondary effects are common and include retinal exudates, macular oedema, epiretinal membranes, retinal fibrosis, as well as serous and tractional retinal detachment, which are treated using standard methods (ie, intravitreal anti-angiogenic agents or steroids as well as vitreoretinal procedures, such as epiretinal membrane peeling and release of retinal traction). The detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of vascular tumours and their complications have improved considerably thanks to advances in imaging. These include spectral domain and enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT and EDI-OCT, respectively), wide-angle photography and angiography as well as wide-angle fundus autofluorescence. Such novel imaging has provided new diagnostic clues and has profoundly influenced therapeutic strategies so that vascular tumours and secondary effects are now treated concurrently instead of sequentially, enhancing any opportunities for conserving vision and the eye. In this review, we describe how SD-OCT, EDI-OCT, autofluorescence, wide-angle photography and wide-angle angiography have facilitated the evaluation of eyes with the more common vascular tumours, that is, choroidal haemangioma, retinal vasoproliferative tumours, and retinal haemangioblastoma. PMID:23196648

Study on the autofluorescence profiles of iris pigment epithelium and retinal pigment epithetlium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Gaixia; Qu, Junle; Chen, Danni; Sun, Yiwen; Zhao, Lingling; Lin, Ziyang; Ding, Zhihua; Niu, Hanben

2007-05-01

Transplantation technique of retinal pigment epithelium has been noticeable in recent years and gradually put into clinical practice in treatment of retinal degenerative diseases. Generally, immunological, histochemical, and physical methods are used to study the iris pigment epithelium (IPE) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, which need complex sample preparation. In this paper, we provided a simple autofluorescence microscopy to investigate the fresh porcine IPE and RPE cells without any pretreatment. The results showed that the morphology and size of both were similar, round and about 15 μm. The main flourophore in both cells was similar, i.e. lipofuscin. In additional, the autofluorescence spectrum of RPE shifted blue after light-induced damage by laser illuminating. Because it was easier for IPE to be damaged by laser than for RPE, and the power of one scanning operation to get a full image was strong enough to damage IPE sample, we hadn't get any satisfied autofluorescence spectrum of IPE.

[Fundus Autofluorescence Imaging].

PubMed

Schmitz-Valckenberg, S

2015-09-01

Fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging allows for non-invasive mapping of changes at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium/photoreceptor complex and of alterations of macular pigment distribution. This imaging method is based on the visualisation of intrinsic fluorophores and may be easily and rapidly used in routine patient care. Main applications include degenerative disorders of the outer retina such as age-related macular degeneration, hereditary and acquired retinal diseases. FAF imaging is particularly helpful for differential diagnosis, detection and extent of involved retinal areas, structural-functional correlations and monitoring of changes over time. Recent developments include - in addition to the original application of short wavelength light for excitation ("blue" FAF imaging) - the use of other wavelength ranges ("green" or "near-infrared" FAF imaging), widefield imaging for visualisation of peripheral retinal areas and quantitative FAF imaging. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Functional Imaging of Retinal Photoreceptors and Inner Neurons Using Stimulus-Evoked Intrinsic Optical Signals

PubMed Central

Yao, Xin-Cheng; Li, Yi-Chao

2013-01-01

Retinal development is a dynamic process both anatomically and functionally. High-resolution imaging and dynamic monitoring of photoreceptors and inner neurons can provide important information regarding the structure and function of the developing retina. In this chapter, we describe intrinsic optical signal (IOS) imaging as a high spatiotemporal resolution method for functional study of living retinal tissues. IOS imaging is based on near infrared (NIR) light detection of stimulus-evoked transient change of inherent optical characteristics of the cells. With no requirement for exogenous biomarkers, IOS imaging is totally noninvasive for functional mapping of stimulus-evoked spatiotemporal dynamics of the photoreceptors and inner retinal neurons. PMID:22688714

In vivo fluorescence imaging of primate retinal ganglion cells and retinal pigment epithelial cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gray, Daniel C.; Merigan, William; Wolfing, Jessica I.; Gee, Bernard P.; Porter, Jason; Dubra, Alfredo; Twietmeyer, Ted H.; Ahamd, Kamran; Tumbar, Remy; Reinholz, Fred; Williams, David R.

2006-08-01

The ability to resolve single cells noninvasively in the living retina has important applications for the study of normal retina, diseased retina, and the efficacy of therapies for retinal disease. We describe a new instrument for high-resolution, in vivo imaging of the mammalian retina that combines the benefits of confocal detection, adaptive optics, multispectral, and fluorescence imaging. The instrument is capable of imaging single ganglion cells and their axons through retrograde transport in ganglion cells of fluorescent dyes injected into the monkey lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). In addition, we demonstrate a method involving simultaneous imaging in two spectral bands that allows the integration of very weak signals across many frames despite inter-frame movement of the eye. With this method, we are also able to resolve the smallest retinal capillaries in fluorescein angiography and the mosaic of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells with lipofuscin autofluorescence.

The Cellular Origins of the Outer Retinal Bands in Optical Coherence Tomography Images

PubMed Central

Jonnal, Ravi S.; Kocaoglu, Omer P.; Zawadzki, Robert J.; Lee, Sang-Hyuck; Werner, John S.; Miller, Donald T.

2014-01-01

Purpose. To test the recently proposed hypothesis that the second outer retinal band, observed in clinical OCT images, originates from the inner segment ellipsoid, by measuring: (1) the thickness of this band within single cone photoreceptors, and (2) its respective distance from the putative external limiting membrane (band 1) and cone outer segment tips (band 3). Methods. Adaptive optics-optical coherence tomography images were acquired from four subjects without known retinal disease. Images were obtained at foveal (2°) and perifoveal (5°) locations. Cone photoreceptors (n = 9593) were identified and segmented in three dimensions using custom software. Features corresponding to bands 1, 2, and 3 were automatically identified. The thickness of band 2 was assessed in each cell by fitting the longitudinal reflectance profile of the band with a Gaussian function. Distances between bands 1 and 2, and between 2 and 3, respectively, were also measured in each cell. Two independent calibration techniques were employed to determine the depth scale (physical length per pixel) of the imaging system. Results. When resolved within single cells, the thickness of band 2 is a factor of three to four times narrower than in corresponding clinical OCT images. The distribution of band 2 thickness across subjects and eccentricities had a modal value of 4.7 μm, with 48% of the cones falling between 4.1 and 5.2 μm. No significant differences were found between cells in the fovea and perifovea. The distance separating bands 1 and 2 was found to be larger than the distance between bands 2 and 3, across subjects and eccentricities, with a significantly larger difference at 5° than 2°. Conclusions. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that ascription of the outer retinal band 2 to the inner segment ellipsoid is unjustified, because the ellipsoid is both too thick and proximally located to produce the band. PMID:25324288

Opportunities for CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing in Retinal Regeneration Research

PubMed Central

Campbell, Leah J.; Hyde, David R.

2017-01-01

While retinal degeneration and disease results in permanent damage and vision loss in humans, the severely damaged zebrafish retina has a high capacity to regenerate lost neurons and restore visual behaviors. Advancements in understanding the molecular and cellular basis of this regeneration response give hope that strategies and therapeutics may be developed to restore sight to blind and visually-impaired individuals. Our current understanding has been facilitated by the amenability of zebrafish to molecular tools, imaging techniques, and forward and reverse genetic approaches. Accordingly, the zebrafish research community has developed a diverse array of research tools for use in developing and adult animals, including toolkits for facilitating the generation of transgenic animals, systems for inducible, cell-specific transgene expression, and the creation of knockout alleles for nearly every protein coding gene. As CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing has begun to revolutionize molecular biology research, the zebrafish community has responded in stride by developing CRISPR/Cas9 techniques for the zebrafish as well as incorporating CRISPR/Cas9 into available toolsets. The application of CRISPR/Cas9 to retinal regeneration research will undoubtedly bring us closer to understanding the mechanisms underlying retinal repair and vision restoration in the zebrafish, as well as developing therapeutic approaches that will restore vision to blind and visually-impaired individuals. This review focuses on how CRISPR/Cas9 has been integrated into zebrafish research toolsets and how this new tool will revolutionize the field of retinal regeneration research. PMID:29218308

In vivo imaging of the mouse model of X-linked juvenile retinoschisis with fourier domain optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Xu, Jing; Molday, Laurie L; Molday, Robert S; Sarunic, Marinko V

2009-06-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FD OCT) as a noninvasive tool for retinal imaging in the Rs1h-knockout mouse (model for X-linked juvenile retinoschisis). A prototype spectrometer-based FD OCT system was used in combination with a custom optical beam-scanning platform. Images of the retinas from wild-type and Rs1h-knockout mice were acquired noninvasively with FD OCT with the specimen anesthetized. At the completion of the noninvasive FD OCT imaging, invasive retinal cross-sectional images (histology) were acquired from a nearby region for comparison to the FD OCT images. The retinal layers were identifiable in the FD OCT images, permitting delineation and thickness measurement of the outer nuclear layer (ONL). During FD OCT in vivo imaging of the Rs1h-knockout mouse, holes were observed in the inner nuclear layer (INL), and retinal cell disorganization was observed as a change in the backscattering intensity profile. Comparison of the ONL measurements acquired noninvasively with FD OCT to measurements taken using histology at nearby locations showed a degeneration of roughly 30% of the ONL by the age of 2 months in Rs1h-knockout mice relative to wild-type. FD OCT was demonstrated to be effective for noninvasive imaging of retinal degeneration and observation of retinal holes in Rs1h-knockout mice.

Use of OCTA, FA, and Ultra-Widefield Imaging in Quantifying Retinal Ischemia: A Review.

PubMed

Or, Chris; Sabrosa, Almyr S; Sorour, Osama; Arya, Malvika; Waheed, Nadia

2018-01-01

As ischemia remains a key prognostic factor in the management of various diseases including diabetic retinopathy, an increasing amount of research has been dedicated to its quantification as a potential biomarker. Advancements in the quantification of retinal ischemia have been made with the imaging modalities of fluorescein angiography (FA), ultra-widefield imaging (UWF), and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), with each imaging modality offering certain benefits over the others. FA remains the gold standard in assessing the extent of ischemia. UWF imaging has allowed for the assessment of peripheral ischemia via FA. It is, however, OCTA that offers the best visualization of retinal vasculature with its noninvasive depth-resolved imaging and therefore has the potential to become a mainstay in the assessment of retinal ischemia. The primary purpose of this article is to review the use of FA, UWF, and OCTA to quantify retinal ischemia and the various methods described in the literature by which this is achieved. Copyright 2018 Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology.

Ultrahigh resolution retinal imaging by visible light OCT with longitudinal achromatization

PubMed Central

Chong, Shau Poh; Zhang, Tingwei; Kho, Aaron; Bernucci, Marcel T.; Dubra, Alfredo; Srinivasan, Vivek J.

2018-01-01

Chromatic aberrations are an important design consideration in high resolution, high bandwidth, refractive imaging systems that use visible light. Here, we present a fiber-based spectral/Fourier domain, visible light OCT ophthalmoscope corrected for the average longitudinal chromatic aberration (LCA) of the human eye. Analysis of complex speckles from in vivo retinal images showed that achromatization resulted in a speckle autocorrelation function that was ~20% narrower in the axial direction, but unchanged in the transverse direction. In images from the improved, achromatized system, the separation between Bruch’s membrane (BM), the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and the outer segment tips clearly emerged across the entire 6.5 mm field-of-view, enabling segmentation and morphometry of BM and the RPE in a human subject. Finally, cross-sectional images depicted distinct inner retinal layers with high resolution. Thus, with chromatic aberration compensation, visible light OCT can achieve volume resolutions and retinal image quality that matches or exceeds ultrahigh resolution near-infrared OCT systems with no monochromatic aberration compensation. PMID:29675296

Advancing Bag-of-Visual-Words Representations for Lesion Classification in Retinal Images

PubMed Central

Pires, Ramon; Jelinek, Herbert F.; Wainer, Jacques; Valle, Eduardo; Rocha, Anderson

2014-01-01

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes that can lead to blindness if not readily discovered. Automated screening algorithms have the potential to improve identification of patients who need further medical attention. However, the identification of lesions must be accurate to be useful for clinical application. The bag-of-visual-words (BoVW) algorithm employs a maximum-margin classifier in a flexible framework that is able to detect the most common DR-related lesions such as microaneurysms, cotton-wool spots and hard exudates. BoVW allows to bypass the need for pre- and post-processing of the retinographic images, as well as the need of specific ad hoc techniques for identification of each type of lesion. An extensive evaluation of the BoVW model, using three large retinograph datasets (DR1, DR2 and Messidor) with different resolution and collected by different healthcare personnel, was performed. The results demonstrate that the BoVW classification approach can identify different lesions within an image without having to utilize different algorithms for each lesion reducing processing time and providing a more flexible diagnostic system. Our BoVW scheme is based on sparse low-level feature detection with a Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) local descriptor, and mid-level features based on semi-soft coding with max pooling. The best BoVW representation for retinal image classification was an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) of 97.8% (exudates) and 93.5% (red lesions), applying a cross-dataset validation protocol. To assess the accuracy for detecting cases that require referral within one year, the sparse extraction technique associated with semi-soft coding and max pooling obtained an AUC of 94.22.0%, outperforming current methods. Those results indicate that, for retinal image classification tasks in clinical practice, BoVW is equal and, in some instances, surpasses results obtained using dense detection (widely believed to be the best choice in many vision problems) for the low-level descriptors. PMID:24886780

Retinal imaging as a source of biomarkers for diagnosis, characterization and prognosis of chronic illness or long-term conditions

PubMed Central

Trucco, E; Cameron, J R; Dhillon, B; Houston, J G; van Beek, E J R

2014-01-01

The black void behind the pupil was optically impenetrable before the invention of the ophthalmoscope by von Helmholtz over 150 years ago. Advances in retinal imaging and image processing, especially over the past decade, have opened a route to another unexplored landscape, the retinal neurovascular architecture and the retinal ganglion pathways linking to the central nervous system beyond. Exploiting these research opportunities requires multidisciplinary teams to explore the interface sitting at the border between ophthalmology, neurology and computing science. It is from the detail and depth of retinal phenotyping that novel metrics and candidate biomarkers are likely to emerge. Confirmation that in vivo retinal neurovascular measures are predictive of microvascular change in the brain and other organs is likely to be a major area of research activity over the next decade. Unlocking this hidden potential within the retina requires integration of structural and functional data sets, that is, multimodal mapping and longitudinal studies spanning the natural history of the disease process. And with further advances in imaging, it is likely that this area of retinal research will remain active and clinically relevant for many years to come. Accordingly, this review looks at state-of-the-art retinal imaging and its application to diagnosis, characterization and prognosis of chronic illness or long-term conditions. PMID:24936979

Mobile, Multi-modal, Label-Free Imaging Probe Analysis of Choroidal Oximetry and Retinal Hypoxia

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

eyes and image choroidal vessels/capillaries using CARS intravital microscopy Subtask 3: Measure oxy-hemoglobin levels in PBI test and control eyes...AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-14-1-0537 TITLE: Mobile, Multi-modal, Label-Free Imaging Probe Analysis of Choroidal Oximetry and Retinal Hypoxia...4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Mobile, Multimodal, Label-Free Imaging Probe Analysis of Choroidal Oximetry and Retinal Hypoxia 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER W81XWH

Retinal Structure of Birds of Prey Revealed by Ultra-High Resolution Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

PubMed Central

Ruggeri, Marco; Major, James C.; McKeown, Craig; Knighton, Robert W.; Puliafito, Carmen A.

2010-01-01

Purpose. To reveal three-dimensional (3-D) information about the retinal structures of birds of prey in vivo. Methods. An ultra-high resolution spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) system was built for in vivo imaging of retinas of birds of prey. The calibrated imaging depth and axial resolution of the system were 3.1 mm and 2.8 μm (in tissue), respectively. 3-D segmentation was performed for calculation of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) map. Results. High-resolution OCT images were obtained of the retinas of four species of birds of prey: two diurnal hawks (Buteo platypterus and Buteo brachyurus) and two nocturnal owls (Bubo virginianus and Strix varia). These images showed the detailed retinal anatomy, including the retinal layers and the structure of the deep and shallow foveae. The calculated thickness map showed the RNFL distribution. Traumatic injury to one bird's retina was also successfully imaged. Conclusions. Ultra-high resolution SD-OCT provides unprecedented high-quality 2-D and 3-D in vivo visualization of the retinal structures of birds of prey. SD-OCT is a powerful imaging tool for vision research in birds of prey. PMID:20554605

Directionality of Individual Cone Photoreceptors in the Parafoveal Region

PubMed Central

Morris, Hugh J.; Blanco, Leonardo; Codona, Johanan L.; Li, Simone; Choi, Stacey S.; Doble, Nathan

2015-01-01

The pointing direction of cone photoreceptors can be inferred from the Stiles-Crawford Effect of the First Kind (SCE-I) measurement. Healthy retinas have tightly packed cones with a SCE-I function peak either centered in the pupil or with a slight nasal bias. Various retinal pathologies can change the profile of the SCE-I function implying that the arrangement or the light capturing properties of the cone photoreceptors are affected. Measuring the SCE-I may reveal early signs of photoreceptor change before actual cell apoptosis occurs. In vivo retinal imaging with adaptive optics (AO) was used to measure the pointing direction of individual cones at eight retinal locations in four control human subjects. Retinal images were acquired by translating an aperture in the light delivery arm through 19 different locations across a subject’s entrance pupil. Angular tuning properties of individual cones were calculated by fitting a Gaussian to the reflected intensity profile of each cone projected onto the pupil. Results were compared to those from an accepted psychophysical SCE-I measurement technique. The maximal difference in cone directionality of an ensemble of cones, ρ̄, between the major and minor axes of the Gaussian fit was 0.05 versus 0.29 mm−2 in one subject. All four subjects were found to have a mean nasal bias of 0.81 mm with a standard deviation of ±0.30 mm in the peak position at all retinal locations with mean ρ̄ value decreasing by 23% with increasing retinal eccentricity. Results show that cones in the parafoveal region converge towards the center of the pupillary aperture, confirming the anterior pointing alignment hypothesis. PMID:26494187

Optic disc segmentation for glaucoma screening system using fundus images.

PubMed

Almazroa, Ahmed; Sun, Weiwei; Alodhayb, Sami; Raahemifar, Kaamran; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

2017-01-01

Segmenting the optic disc (OD) is an important and essential step in creating a frame of reference for diagnosing optic nerve head pathologies such as glaucoma. Therefore, a reliable OD segmentation technique is necessary for automatic screening of optic nerve head abnormalities. The main contribution of this paper is in presenting a novel OD segmentation algorithm based on applying a level set method on a localized OD image. To prevent the blood vessels from interfering with the level set process, an inpainting technique was applied. As well an important contribution was to involve the variations in opinions among the ophthalmologists in detecting the disc boundaries and diagnosing the glaucoma. Most of the previous studies were trained and tested based on only one opinion, which can be assumed to be biased for the ophthalmologist. In addition, the accuracy was calculated based on the number of images that coincided with the ophthalmologists' agreed-upon images, and not only on the overlapping images as in previous studies. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop an automated image processing system for glaucoma screening. The disc algorithm is evaluated using a new retinal fundus image dataset called RIGA (retinal images for glaucoma analysis). In the case of low-quality images, a double level set was applied, in which the first level set was considered to be localization for the OD. Five hundred and fifty images are used to test the algorithm accuracy as well as the agreement among the manual markings of six ophthalmologists. The accuracy of the algorithm in marking the optic disc area and centroid was 83.9%, and the best agreement was observed between the results of the algorithm and manual markings in 379 images.

Computer-aided diagnosis based on enhancement of degraded fundus photographs.

PubMed

Jin, Kai; Zhou, Mei; Wang, Shaoze; Lou, Lixia; Xu, Yufeng; Ye, Juan; Qian, Dahong

2018-05-01

Retinal imaging is an important and effective tool for detecting retinal diseases. However, degraded images caused by the aberrations of the eye can disguise lesions, so that a diseased eye can be mistakenly diagnosed as normal. In this work, we propose a new image enhancement method to improve the quality of degraded images. A new method is used to enhance degraded-quality fundus images. In this method, the image is converted from the input RGB colour space to LAB colour space and then each normalized component is enhanced using contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization. Human visual system (HVS)-based fundus image quality assessment, combined with diagnosis by experts, is used to evaluate the enhancement. The study included 191 degraded-quality fundus photographs of 143 subjects with optic media opacity. Objective quality assessment of image enhancement (range: 0-1) indicated that our method improved colour retinal image quality from an average of 0.0773 (variance 0.0801) to an average of 0.3973 (variance 0.0756). Following enhancement, area under curves (AUC) were 0.996 for the glaucoma classifier, 0.989 for the diabetic retinopathy (DR) classifier, 0.975 for the age-related macular degeneration (AMD) classifier and 0.979 for the other retinal diseases classifier. The relatively simple method for enhancing degraded-quality fundus images achieves superior image enhancement, as demonstrated in a qualitative HVS-based image quality assessment. This retinal image enhancement may, therefore, be employed to assist ophthalmologists in more efficient screening of retinal diseases and the development of computer-aided diagnosis. © 2017 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Photoreceptor counting and montaging of en-face retinal images from an adaptive optics fundus camera

PubMed Central

Xue, Bai; Choi, Stacey S.; Doble, Nathan; Werner, John S.

2008-01-01

A fast and efficient method for quantifying photoreceptor density in images obtained with an en-face flood-illuminated adaptive optics (AO) imaging system is described. To improve accuracy of cone counting, en-face images are analyzed over extended areas. This is achieved with two separate semiautomated algorithms: (1) a montaging algorithm that joins retinal images with overlapping common features without edge effects and (2) a cone density measurement algorithm that counts the individual cones in the montaged image. The accuracy of the cone density measurement algorithm is high, with >97% agreement for a simulated retinal image (of known density, with low contrast) and for AO images from normal eyes when compared with previously reported histological data. Our algorithms do not require spatial regularity in cone packing and are, therefore, useful for counting cones in diseased retinas, as demonstrated for eyes with Stargardt’s macular dystrophy and retinitis pigmentosa. PMID:17429482

Image quality classification for DR screening using deep learning.

PubMed

FengLi Yu; Jing Sun; Annan Li; Jun Cheng; Cheng Wan; Jiang Liu

2017-07-01

The quality of input images significantly affects the outcome of automated diabetic retinopathy (DR) screening systems. Unlike the previous methods that only consider simple low-level features such as hand-crafted geometric and structural features, in this paper we propose a novel method for retinal image quality classification (IQC) that performs computational algorithms imitating the working of the human visual system. The proposed algorithm combines unsupervised features from saliency map and supervised features coming from convolutional neural networks (CNN), which are fed to an SVM to automatically detect high quality vs poor quality retinal fundus images. We demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed algorithm on a large retinal fundus image dataset and the method could achieve higher accuracy than other methods. Although retinal images are used in this study, the methodology is applicable to the image quality assessment and enhancement of other types of medical images.

Photoreceptor counting and montaging of en-face retinal images from an adaptive optics fundus camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Bai; Choi, Stacey S.; Doble, Nathan; Werner, John S.

2007-05-01

A fast and efficient method for quantifying photoreceptor density in images obtained with an en-face flood-illuminated adaptive optics (AO) imaging system is described. To improve accuracy of cone counting, en-face images are analyzed over extended areas. This is achieved with two separate semiautomated algorithms: (1) a montaging algorithm that joins retinal images with overlapping common features without edge effects and (2) a cone density measurement algorithm that counts the individual cones in the montaged image. The accuracy of the cone density measurement algorithm is high, with >97% agreement for a simulated retinal image (of known density, with low contrast) and for AO images from normal eyes when compared with previously reported histological data. Our algorithms do not require spatial regularity in cone packing and are, therefore, useful for counting cones in diseased retinas, as demonstrated for eyes with Stargardt's macular dystrophy and retinitis pigmentosa.

Ultra-wide-field angiography improves the detection and classification of diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed

Wessel, Matthew M; Aaker, Grant D; Parlitsis, George; Cho, Minhee; D'Amico, Donald J; Kiss, Szilárd

2012-04-01

To evaluate patients with diabetic retinopathy using ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiography and to compare the visualized retinal pathology with that seen on an overly of conventional 7 standard field (7SF) imaging. Two hundred and eighteen eyes of 118 diabetic patients who underwent diagnostic fluorescein angiography using the Optos Optomap Panoramic 200A imaging system were included. The visualized area of the retina, retinal nonperfusion, retinal neovascularization, and panretinal photocoagulation were quantified by two independent masked graders. The respective areas identified on the ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiography image were compared with an overly of a modified 7SF image as outlined in the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study. Ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiograms imaging, on average, demonstrated 3.2 times more total retinal surface area than 7SF. When compared with 7SF, ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiography showed 3.9 times more nonperfusion (P < 0.001), 1.9 times more neovascularization (P = 0.036), and 3.8 times more panretinal photocoagulation (P < 0.001). In 22 eyes (10%), ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiography demonstrated retinal pathology (including nonperfusion and neovascularization) not evident in an 7SF overly. Compared with conventional 7SF imaging, ultra-wide-field fluorescein angiography reveals significantly more retinal vascular pathology in patients with diabetic retinopathy. Improved retinal visualization may alter the classification of diabetic retinopathy and may therefore influence follow-up and treatment of these patients.

Three-dimensional retinal imaging with high-speed ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Wojtkowski, Maciej; Srinivasan, Vivek; Fujimoto, James G; Ko, Tony; Schuman, Joel S; Kowalczyk, Andrzej; Duker, Jay S

2005-10-01

To demonstrate high-speed, ultrahigh-resolution, 3-dimensional optical coherence tomography (3D OCT) and new protocols for retinal imaging. Ultrahigh-resolution OCT using broadband light sources achieves axial image resolutions of approximately 2 microm compared with standard 10-microm-resolution OCT current commercial instruments. High-speed OCT using spectral/Fourier domain detection enables dramatic increases in imaging speeds. Three-dimensional OCT retinal imaging is performed in normal human subjects using high-speed ultrahigh-resolution OCT. Three-dimensional OCT data of the macula and optic disc are acquired using a dense raster scan pattern. New processing and display methods for generating virtual OCT fundus images; cross-sectional OCT images with arbitrary orientations; quantitative maps of retinal, nerve fiber layer, and other intraretinal layer thicknesses; and optic nerve head topographic parameters are demonstrated. Three-dimensional OCT imaging enables new imaging protocols that improve visualization and mapping of retinal microstructure. An OCT fundus image can be generated directly from the 3D OCT data, which enables precise and repeatable registration of cross-sectional OCT images and thickness maps with fundus features. Optical coherence tomography images with arbitrary orientations, such as circumpapillary scans, can be generated from 3D OCT data. Mapping of total retinal thickness and thicknesses of the nerve fiber layer, photoreceptor layer, and other intraretinal layers is demonstrated. Measurement of optic nerve head topography and disc parameters is also possible. Three-dimensional OCT enables measurements that are similar to those of standard instruments, including the StratusOCT, GDx, HRT, and RTA. Three-dimensional OCT imaging can be performed using high-speed ultrahigh-resolution OCT. Three-dimensional OCT provides comprehensive visualization and mapping of retinal microstructures. The high data acquisition speeds enable high-density data sets with large numbers of transverse positions on the retina, which reduces the possibility of missing focal pathologies. In addition to providing image information such as OCT cross-sectional images, OCT fundus images, and 3D rendering, quantitative measurement and mapping of intraretinal layer thickness and topographic features of the optic disc are possible. We hope that 3D OCT imaging may help to elucidate the structural changes associated with retinal disease as well as improve early diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression and response to treatment.

Detection of retinal nerve fiber layer defects on retinal fundus images for early diagnosis of glaucoma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muramatsu, Chisako; Hayashi, Yoshinori; Sawada, Akira; Hatanaka, Yuji; Hara, Takeshi; Yamamoto, Tetsuya; Fujita, Hiroshi

2010-01-01

Retinal nerve fiber layer defect (NFLD) is a major sign of glaucoma, which is the second leading cause of blindness in the world. Early detection of NFLDs is critical for improved prognosis of this progressive, blinding disease. We have investigated a computerized scheme for detection of NFLDs on retinal fundus images. In this study, 162 images, including 81 images with 99 NFLDs, were used. After major blood vessels were removed, the images were transformed so that the curved paths of retinal nerves become approximately straight on the basis of ellipses, and the Gabor filters were applied for enhancement of NFLDs. Bandlike regions darker than the surrounding pixels were detected as candidates of NFLDs. For each candidate, image features were determined and the likelihood of a true NFLD was determined by using the linear discriminant analysis and an artificial neural network (ANN). The sensitivity for detecting the NFLDs was 91% at 1.0 false positive per image by using the ANN. The proposed computerized system for the detection of NFLDs can be useful to physicians in the diagnosis of glaucoma in a mass screening.

Quantitative Analysis of Mouse Retinal Layers Using Automated Segmentation of Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography Images

PubMed Central

Dysli, Chantal; Enzmann, Volker; Sznitman, Raphael; Zinkernagel, Martin S.

2015-01-01

Purpose Quantification of retinal layers using automated segmentation of optical coherence tomography (OCT) images allows for longitudinal studies of retinal and neurological disorders in mice. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of automated retinal layer segmentation algorithms with data from manual segmentation in mice using the Spectralis OCT. Methods Spectral domain OCT images from 55 mice from three different mouse strains were analyzed in total. The OCT scans from 22 C57Bl/6, 22 BALBc, and 11 C3A.Cg-Pde6b+Prph2Rd2/J mice were automatically segmented using three commercially available automated retinal segmentation algorithms and compared to manual segmentation. Results Fully automated segmentation performed well in mice and showed coefficients of variation (CV) of below 5% for the total retinal volume. However, all three automated segmentation algorithms yielded much thicker total retinal thickness values compared to manual segmentation data (P < 0.0001) due to segmentation errors in the basement membrane. Conclusions Whereas the automated retinal segmentation algorithms performed well for the inner layers, the retinal pigmentation epithelium (RPE) was delineated within the sclera, leading to consistently thicker measurements of the photoreceptor layer and the total retina. Translational Relevance The introduction of spectral domain OCT allows for accurate imaging of the mouse retina. Exact quantification of retinal layer thicknesses in mice is important to study layers of interest under various pathological conditions. PMID:26336634

3D OCT imaging in clinical settings: toward quantitative measurements of retinal structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zawadzki, Robert J.; Fuller, Alfred R.; Zhao, Mingtao; Wiley, David F.; Choi, Stacey S.; Bower, Bradley A.; Hamann, Bernd; Izatt, Joseph A.; Werner, John S.

2006-02-01

The acquisition speed of current FD-OCT (Fourier Domain - Optical Coherence Tomography) instruments allows rapid screening of three-dimensional (3D) volumes of human retinas in clinical settings. To take advantage of this ability requires software used by physicians to be capable of displaying and accessing volumetric data as well as supporting post processing in order to access important quantitative information such as thickness maps and segmented volumes. We describe our clinical FD-OCT system used to acquire 3D data from the human retina over the macula and optic nerve head. B-scans are registered to remove motion artifacts and post-processed with customized 3D visualization and analysis software. Our analysis software includes standard 3D visualization techniques along with a machine learning support vector machine (SVM) algorithm that allows a user to semi-automatically segment different retinal structures and layers. Our program makes possible measurements of the retinal layer thickness as well as volumes of structures of interest, despite the presence of noise and structural deformations associated with retinal pathology. Our software has been tested successfully in clinical settings for its efficacy in assessing 3D retinal structures in healthy as well as diseased cases. Our tool facilitates diagnosis and treatment monitoring of retinal diseases.

Cone photoreceptor definition on adaptive optics retinal imaging

PubMed Central

Muthiah, Manickam Nick; Gias, Carlos; Chen, Fred Kuanfu; Zhong, Joe; McClelland, Zoe; Sallo, Ferenc B; Peto, Tunde; Coffey, Peter J; da Cruz, Lyndon

2014-01-01

Aims To quantitatively analyse cone photoreceptor matrices on images captured on an adaptive optics (AO) camera and assess their correlation to well-established parameters in the retinal histology literature. Methods High resolution retinal images were acquired from 10 healthy subjects, aged 20–35 years old, using an AO camera (rtx1, Imagine Eyes, France). Left eye images were captured at 5° of retinal eccentricity, temporal to the fovea for consistency. In three subjects, images were also acquired at 0, 2, 3, 5 and 7° retinal eccentricities. Cone photoreceptor density was calculated following manual and automated counting. Inter-photoreceptor distance was also calculated. Voronoi domain and power spectrum analyses were performed for all images. Results At 5° eccentricity, the cone density (cones/mm2 mean±SD) was 15.3±1.4×103 (automated) and 13.9±1.0×103 (manual) and the mean inter-photoreceptor distance was 8.6±0.4 μm. Cone density decreased and inter-photoreceptor distance increased with increasing retinal eccentricity from 2 to 7°. A regular hexagonal cone photoreceptor mosaic pattern was seen at 2, 3 and 5° of retinal eccentricity. Conclusions Imaging data acquired from the AO camera match cone density, intercone distance and show the known features of cone photoreceptor distribution in the pericentral retina as reported by histology, namely, decreasing density values from 2 to 7° of eccentricity and the hexagonal packing arrangement. This confirms that AO flood imaging provides reliable estimates of pericentral cone photoreceptor distribution in normal subjects. PMID:24729030

Motion detection and compensation in infrared retinal image sequences.

PubMed

Scharcanski, J; Schardosim, L R; Santos, D; Stuchi, A

2013-01-01

Infrared image data captured by non-mydriatic digital retinography systems often are used in the diagnosis and treatment of the diabetic macular edema (DME). Infrared illumination is less aggressive to the patient retina, and retinal studies can be carried out without pupil dilation. However, sequences of infrared eye fundus images of static scenes, tend to present pixel intensity fluctuations in time, and noisy and background illumination changes pose a challenge to most motion detection methods proposed in the literature. In this paper, we present a retinal motion detection method that is adaptive to background noise and illumination changes. Our experimental results indicate that this method is suitable for detecting retinal motion in infrared image sequences, and compensate the detected motion, which is relevant in retinal laser treatment systems for DME. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feature-based pairwise retinal image registration by radial distortion correction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Sangyeol; Abràmoff, Michael D.; Reinhardt, Joseph M.

2007-03-01

Fundus camera imaging is widely used to document disorders such as diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration. Multiple retinal images can be combined together through a procedure known as mosaicing to form an image with a larger field of view. Mosaicing typically requires multiple pairwise registrations of partially overlapped images. We describe a new method for pairwise retinal image registration. The proposed method is unique in that the radial distortion due to image acquisition is corrected prior to the geometric transformation. Vessel lines are detected using the Hessian operator and are used as input features to the registration. Since the overlapping region is typically small in a retinal image pair, only a few correspondences are available, thus limiting the applicable model to an afine transform at best. To recover the distortion due to curved-surface of retina and lens optics, a combined approach of an afine model with a radial distortion correction is proposed. The parameters of the image acquisition and radial distortion models are estimated during an optimization step that uses Powell's method driven by the vessel line distance. Experimental results using 20 pairs of green channel images acquired from three subjects with a fundus camera confirmed that the afine model with distortion correction could register retinal image pairs to within 1.88+/-0.35 pixels accuracy (mean +/- standard deviation) assessed by vessel line error, which is 17% better than the afine-only approach. Because the proposed method needs only two correspondences, it can be applied to obtain good registration accuracy even in the case of small overlap between retinal image pairs.

Filling in the retinal image

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larimer, James; Piantanida, Thomas

1990-01-01

The optics of the eye form an image on a surface at the back of the eyeball called the retina. The retina contains the photoreceptors that sample the image and convert it into a neural signal. The spacing of the photoreceptors in the retina is not uniform and varies with retinal locus. The central retinal field, called the macula, is densely packed with photoreceptors. The packing density falls off rapidly as a function of retinal eccentricity with respect to the macular region and there are regions in which there are no photoreceptors at all. The retinal regions without photoreceptors are called blind spots or scotomas. The neural transformations which convert retinal image signals into percepts fills in the gaps and regularizes the inhomogeneities of the retinal photoreceptor sampling mosaic. The filling-in mechamism plays an important role in understanding visual performance. The filling-in mechanism is not well understood. A systematic collaborative research program at the Ames Research Center and SRI in Menlo Park, California, was designed to explore this mechanism. It was shown that the perceived fields which are in fact different from the image on the retina due to filling-in, control some aspects of performance and not others. Researchers have linked these mechanisms to putative mechanisms of color coding and color constancy.

High-resolution optical coherence tomography, autofluorescence, and infrared reflectance imaging in Sjögren reticular dystrophy.

PubMed

Schauwvlieghe, Pieter-Paul; Torre, Kara Della; Coppieters, Frauke; Van Hoey, Anneleen; De Baere, Elfride; De Zaeytijd, Julie; Leroy, Bart P; Brodie, Scott E

2013-01-01

To describe the phenotype of three cases of Sjögren reticular dystrophy in detail, including high-resolution optical coherence tomography, autofluorescence imaging, and near-infrared reflectance imaging. Two unrelated teenagers were independently referred for ophthalmologic evaluation. Both underwent a full ophthalmologic workup, including electrophysiologic and extensive imaging with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, autofluorescence imaging, and near-infrared reflectance imaging. In addition, mutation screening of ABCA4, PRPH2, and the mitochondrial tRNA gene was performed in Patient 1. Subsequently, the teenage sister of Patient 2 was examined. Strikingly similar phenotypes were present in these three patients. Fundoscopy showed bilateral foveal pigment alterations, and a lobular network of deep retinal, pigmented deposits throughout the posterior pole, tapering toward the midperiphery, with relative sparing of the immediate perifoveal macula and peripapillary area. This network is mildly to moderately hyperautofluorescent on autofluorescence and bright on near-infrared reflectance imaging. Optical coherence tomography showed abnormalities of the retinal pigment epithelium-Bruch membrane complex, photoreceptor outer segments, and photoreceptor inner/outer segment interface. The results of retinal function test were entirely normal. No molecular cause was detected in Patient 1. Imaging suggested that the lobular network of deep retinal deposits in Sjögren reticular dystrophy is the result of accumulation of both pigment and lipofuscin between photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium, as well as within the retinal pigment epithelium.

Fast Acquisition and Reconstruction of Optical Coherence Tomography Images via Sparse Representation

PubMed Central

Li, Shutao; McNabb, Ryan P.; Nie, Qing; Kuo, Anthony N.; Toth, Cynthia A.; Izatt, Joseph A.; Farsiu, Sina

2014-01-01

In this paper, we present a novel technique, based on compressive sensing principles, for reconstruction and enhancement of multi-dimensional image data. Our method is a major improvement and generalization of the multi-scale sparsity based tomographic denoising (MSBTD) algorithm we recently introduced for reducing speckle noise. Our new technique exhibits several advantages over MSBTD, including its capability to simultaneously reduce noise and interpolate missing data. Unlike MSBTD, our new method does not require an a priori high-quality image from the target imaging subject and thus offers the potential to shorten clinical imaging sessions. This novel image restoration method, which we termed sparsity based simultaneous denoising and interpolation (SBSDI), utilizes sparse representation dictionaries constructed from previously collected datasets. We tested the SBSDI algorithm on retinal spectral domain optical coherence tomography images captured in the clinic. Experiments showed that the SBSDI algorithm qualitatively and quantitatively outperforms other state-of-the-art methods. PMID:23846467

Automatic retinal interest evaluation system (ARIES).

PubMed

Yin, Fengshou; Wong, Damon Wing Kee; Yow, Ai Ping; Lee, Beng Hai; Quan, Ying; Zhang, Zhuo; Gopalakrishnan, Kavitha; Li, Ruoying; Liu, Jiang

2014-01-01

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of automatic computer-based systems for the detection of eye diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. However, in practice, retinal image quality is a big concern as automatic systems without consideration of degraded image quality will likely generate unreliable results. In this paper, an automatic retinal image quality assessment system (ARIES) is introduced to assess both image quality of the whole image and focal regions of interest. ARIES achieves 99.54% accuracy in distinguishing fundus images from other types of images through a retinal image identification step in a dataset of 35342 images. The system employs high level image quality measures (HIQM) to perform image quality assessment, and achieves areas under curve (AUCs) of 0.958 and 0.987 for whole image and optic disk region respectively in a testing dataset of 370 images. ARIES acts as a form of automatic quality control which ensures good quality images are used for processing, and can also be used to alert operators of poor quality images at the time of acquisition.

Diagnosing and ranking retinopathy disease level using diabetic fundus image recuperation approach.

PubMed

Somasundaram, K; Rajendran, P Alli

2015-01-01

Retinal fundus images are widely used in diagnosing different types of eye diseases. The existing methods such as Feature Based Macular Edema Detection (FMED) and Optimally Adjusted Morphological Operator (OAMO) effectively detected the presence of exudation in fundus images and identified the true positive ratio of exudates detection, respectively. These mechanically detected exudates did not include more detailed feature selection technique to the system for detection of diabetic retinopathy. To categorize the exudates, Diabetic Fundus Image Recuperation (DFIR) method based on sliding window approach is developed in this work to select the features of optic cup in digital retinal fundus images. The DFIR feature selection uses collection of sliding windows with varying range to obtain the features based on the histogram value using Group Sparsity Nonoverlapping Function. Using support vector model in the second phase, the DFIR method based on Spiral Basis Function effectively ranks the diabetic retinopathy disease level. The ranking of disease level on each candidate set provides a much promising result for developing practically automated and assisted diabetic retinopathy diagnosis system. Experimental work on digital fundus images using the DFIR method performs research on the factors such as sensitivity, ranking efficiency, and feature selection time.

Diagnosing and Ranking Retinopathy Disease Level Using Diabetic Fundus Image Recuperation Approach

PubMed Central

Somasundaram, K.; Alli Rajendran, P.

2015-01-01

Retinal fundus images are widely used in diagnosing different types of eye diseases. The existing methods such as Feature Based Macular Edema Detection (FMED) and Optimally Adjusted Morphological Operator (OAMO) effectively detected the presence of exudation in fundus images and identified the true positive ratio of exudates detection, respectively. These mechanically detected exudates did not include more detailed feature selection technique to the system for detection of diabetic retinopathy. To categorize the exudates, Diabetic Fundus Image Recuperation (DFIR) method based on sliding window approach is developed in this work to select the features of optic cup in digital retinal fundus images. The DFIR feature selection uses collection of sliding windows with varying range to obtain the features based on the histogram value using Group Sparsity Nonoverlapping Function. Using support vector model in the second phase, the DFIR method based on Spiral Basis Function effectively ranks the diabetic retinopathy disease level. The ranking of disease level on each candidate set provides a much promising result for developing practically automated and assisted diabetic retinopathy diagnosis system. Experimental work on digital fundus images using the DFIR method performs research on the factors such as sensitivity, ranking efficiency, and feature selection time. PMID:25945362

Retinal amyloid pathology and proof-of-concept imaging trial in Alzheimer’s disease

PubMed Central

Koronyo, Yosef; Biggs, David; Barron, Ernesto; Boyer, David S.; Pearlman, Joel A.; Au, William J.; Kile, Shawn J.; Blanco, Austin; Fuchs, Dieu-Trang; Frautschy, Sally; Cole, Gregory M.; Miller, Carol A.; Hinton, David R.; Verdooner, Steven R.; Black, Keith L.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND. Noninvasive detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with high specificity and sensitivity can greatly facilitate identification of at-risk populations for earlier, more effective intervention. AD patients exhibit a myriad of retinal pathologies, including hallmark amyloid β-protein (Aβ) deposits. METHODS. Burden, distribution, cellular layer, and structure of retinal Aβ plaques were analyzed in flat mounts and cross sections of definite AD patients and controls (n = 37). In a proof-of-concept retinal imaging trial (n = 16), amyloid probe curcumin formulation was determined and protocol was established for retinal amyloid imaging in live patients. RESULTS. Histological examination uncovered classical and neuritic-like Aβ deposits with increased retinal Aβ42 plaques (4.7-fold; P = 0.0063) and neuronal loss (P = 0.0023) in AD patients versus matched controls. Retinal Aβ plaque mirrored brain pathology, especially in the primary visual cortex (P = 0.0097 to P = 0.0018; Pearson’s r = 0.84–0.91). Retinal deposits often associated with blood vessels and occurred in hot spot peripheral regions of the superior quadrant and innermost retinal layers. Transmission electron microscopy revealed retinal Aβ assembled into protofibrils and fibrils. Moreover, the ability to image retinal amyloid deposits with solid-lipid curcumin and a modified scanning laser ophthalmoscope was demonstrated in live patients. A fully automated calculation of the retinal amyloid index (RAI), a quantitative measure of increased curcumin fluorescence, was constructed. Analysis of RAI scores showed a 2.1-fold increase in AD patients versus controls (P = 0.0031). CONCLUSION. The geometric distribution and increased burden of retinal amyloid pathology in AD, together with the feasibility to noninvasively detect discrete retinal amyloid deposits in living patients, may lead to a practical approach for large-scale AD diagnosis and monitoring. FUNDING. National Institute on Aging award (AG044897) and The Saban and The Marciano Family Foundations. PMID:28814675

Morphology and Topography of Retinal Pericytes in the Living Mouse Retina Using In Vivo Adaptive Optics Imaging and Ex Vivo Characterization

PubMed Central

Schallek, Jesse; Geng, Ying; Nguyen, HoanVu; Williams, David R.

2013-01-01

Purpose. To noninvasively image retinal pericytes in the living eye and characterize NG2-positive cell topography and morphology in the adult mouse retina. Methods. Transgenic mice expressing fluorescent pericytes (NG2, DsRed) were imaged using a two-channel, adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO). One channel imaged vascular perfusion with near infrared light. A second channel simultaneously imaged fluorescent retinal pericytes. Mice were also imaged using wide-field ophthalmoscopy. To confirm in vivo imaging, five eyes were enucleated and imaged in flat mount with conventional fluorescent microscopy. Cell topography was quantified relative to the optic disc. Results. We observed strong DsRed fluorescence from NG2-positive cells. AOSLO revealed fluorescent vascular mural cells enveloping all vessels in the living retina. Cells were stellate on larger venules, and showed banded morphology on arterioles. NG2-positive cells indicative of pericytes were found on the smallest capillaries of the retinal circulation. Wide-field SLO enabled quick assessment of NG2-positive distribution, but provided insufficient resolution for cell counts. Ex vivo microscopy showed relatively even topography of NG2-positive capillary pericytes at eccentricities more than 0.3 mm from the optic disc (515 ± 94 cells/mm2 of retinal area). Conclusions. We provide the first high-resolution images of retinal pericytes in the living animal. Subcellular resolution enabled morphological identification of NG2-positive cells on capillaries showing classic features and topography of retinal pericytes. This report provides foundational basis for future studies that will track and quantify pericyte topography, morphology, and function in the living retina over time, especially in the progression of microvascular disease. PMID:24150762

Retinitis Pigmentosa Sine Pigmento Mimicking a Chiasm Disease.

PubMed

Pellegrini, Francesco; Prosdocimo, Giovanni; Romano, Francesco; Interlandi, Emanuela

2017-08-01

A 75-year-old woman presented to her ophthalmologist complaining of visual loss for several years. The ophthalmic examination was remarkable for a bitemporal visual field defect. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain was normal without evidence of chiasm compression. Neuro-ophthalmic examination was consistent with a retinal rather than a chiasmal disease. Retinal multimodal imaging helped in the correct diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa, later confirmed by genetic testing.

Image processing techniques applied to the detection of optic disk: a comparison

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumari, Vijaya V.; Narayanan, Suriya N.

2010-02-01

In retinal image analysis, the detection of optic disk is of paramount importance. It facilitates the tracking of various anatomical features and also in the extraction of exudates, drusens etc., present in the retina of human eye. The health of retina crumbles with age in some people during the presence of exudates causing Diabetic Retinopathy. The existence of exudates increases the risk for age related macular Degeneration (AMRD) and it is the leading cause for blindness in people above the age of 50.A prompt diagnosis when the disease is at the early stage can help to prevent irreversible damages to the diabetic eye. Screening to detect diabetic retinopathy helps to prevent the visual loss. The optic disk detection is the rudimentary requirement for the screening. In this paper few methods for optic disk detection were compared which uses both the properties of optic disk and model based approaches. They are uniquely used to give accurate results in the retinal images.

Improving the blind restoration of retinal images by means of point-spread-function estimation assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marrugo, Andrés. G.; Millán, María. S.; Å orel, Michal; Kotera, Jan; Å roubek, Filip

2015-01-01

Retinal images often suffer from blurring which hinders disease diagnosis and progression assessment. The restoration of the images is carried out by means of blind deconvolution, but the success of the restoration depends on the correct estimation of the point-spread-function (PSF) that blurred the image. The restoration can be space-invariant or space-variant. Because a retinal image has regions without texture or sharp edges, the blind PSF estimation may fail. In this paper we propose a strategy for the correct assessment of PSF estimation in retinal images for restoration by means of space-invariant or space-invariant blind deconvolution. Our method is based on a decomposition in Zernike coefficients of the estimated PSFs to identify valid PSFs. This significantly improves the quality of the image restoration revealed by the increased visibility of small details like small blood vessels and by the lack of restoration artifacts.

Fluorocoxib A enables targeted detection of cyclooxygenase-2 in laser-induced choroidal neovascularization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uddin, Md. Jashim; Moore, Chauca E.; Crews, Brenda C.; Daniel, Cristina K.; Ghebreselasie, Kebreab; McIntyre, J. Oliver; Marnett, Lawrence J.; Jayagopal, Ashwath

2016-09-01

Ocular angiogenesis is a blinding complication of age-related macular degeneration and other retinal vascular diseases. Clinical imaging approaches to detect inflammation prior to the onset of neovascularization in these diseases may enable early detection and timely therapeutic intervention. We demonstrate the feasibility of a previously developed cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) targeted molecular imaging probe, fluorocoxib A, for imaging retinal inflammation in a mouse model of laser-induced choroidal neovascularization. This imaging probe exhibited focal accumulation within laser-induced neovascular lesions, with minimal detection in proximal healthy tissue. The selectivity of the probe for COX-2 was validated in vitro and by in vivo retinal imaging with nontargeted 5-carboxy-X-rhodamine dye, and by blockade of the COX-2 active site with nonfluorescent celecoxib prior to injection of fluorocoxib A. Fluorocoxib A can be utilized for imaging COX-2 expression in vivo for further validation as an imaging biomarker in retinal diseases.

Ocular screening tests of elementary school children

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richardson, J.

1983-01-01

This report presents an analysis of 507 abnormal retinal reflex images taken of Huntsville kindergarten and first grade students. The retinal reflex images were obtained by using an MSFC-developed Generated Retinal Reflex Image System (GRRIS) photorefractor. The system uses a 35 mm camera with a telephoto lens with an electronic flash attachment. Slide images of the eyes were examined for abnormalities. Of a total of 1835 students screened for ocular abnormalities, 507 were found to have abnormal retinal reflexes. The types of ocular abnormalities detected were hyperopia, myopia, astigmatism, esotropia, exotropia, strabismus, and lens obstuctions. The report shows that the use of the photorefractor screening system is an effective low-cost means of screening school children for abnormalities.

In vivo imaging of the Mouse Model of X-Linked Juvenile Retinoschisis Using Fourier Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

PubMed Central

Xu, Jing; Molday, Laurie L.; Molday, Robert S.; Sarunic, Marinko V.

2009-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate Fourier Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (FD OCT) as a non-invasive tool for retinal imaging in the Rs1h knockout mouse (model for X-linked Juvenile Retinoschisis). Methods A prototype spectrometer based FD OCT system was used in combination with a custom optical beam-scanning platform. Images of the retinas from wild type and Rs1h knockout mice were acquired non-invasively using FD OCT with the specimen anesthetized. At the completion of the non-invasive FD OCT imaging, invasive retinal cross sectional images (histology) were acquired from a nearby region for comparison to the FD OCT images. Results The retinal layers could be identified in the FD OCT images, permitting delineation and thickness measurement of the outer nuclear layer (ONL). During FD OCT in vivo imaging of the Rs1h knockout mouse, holes were observed in the inner nuclear layer (INL) and retinal cell disorganization was observed as a change in the backscattering intensity profile. Comparison of the ONL measurements acquired non-invasively using FD OCT to measurements taken using histology at nearby locations showed a degeneration of roughly thirty percent of the ONL by the age of two months in Rs1h knockout mice relative to wild type. Conclusions FD OCT has been demonstrated for non-invasive imaging of retinal degeneration and observation of retinal holes in Rs1h knockout mice. PMID:19182246

High-resolution 3D MR microangiography of the rat ocular circulation.

PubMed

Shih, Yen-Yu I; Muir, Eric R; Li, Guang; De La Garza, Bryan H; Duong, Timothy Q

2012-07-01

To develop high-spatial-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) microangiography techniques to image the rat ocular circulation. Animal experiments were performed with institutional Animal Care Committee approval. MR microangiography (resolution, 84×84×84 μm or 42×42×84 μm) of the rat eye (eight rats) was performed by using a custom-made small circular surface coil with an 11.7-T MR unit before and after monocrystalline iron oxide nanoparticle (MION) injection. MR microangiography measurements were made during air, oxygen, and carbogen inhalation. From three-dimensional MR microangiography, the retina was virtually flattened to enable en face views of various retinal depths, including the retinal and choroidal vascular layers. Signal intensity changes within the retinal or choroidal arteries and veins associated with gas challenges were analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed by using paired t tests, with P<.05 considered to indicate a significant difference. Bonferroni correction was used to adjust for multiple comparisons. The central retinal artery, long posterior ciliary arteries, and choroidal vasculature could be distinguished on MR microangiograms of the eye. With MR microangiography, retinal arteries and veins could be distinguished on the basis of blood oxygen level-dependent contrast. Carbogen inhalation-enhanced MR microangiography signal intensity in both the retina (P=.001) and choroid (P=.027) compared with oxygen inhalation. Carbogen inhalation showed significantly higher signal intensity changes in the retinal arteries (P=.001, compared with oxygen inhalation), but not in the veins (P=.549). With MION administration, MR microangiography depicted retinal arterial vasoconstriction when the animals were breathing oxygen (P=.02, compared with animals breathing air). MR microangiography of the eye allows depth-resolved imaging of small angiographic details of the ocular circulation. This approach may prove useful in studying microvascular pathologic findings and neurovascular dysfunction in the eye and retina. © RSNA, 2012.

Computer-Assisted Digital Image Analysis of Plus Disease in Retinopathy of Prematurity.

PubMed

Kemp, Pavlina S; VanderVeen, Deborah K

2016-01-01

The objective of this study is to review the current state and role of computer-assisted analysis in diagnosis of plus disease in retinopathy of prematurity. Diagnosis and documentation of retinopathy of prematurity are increasingly being supplemented by digital imaging. The incorporation of computer-aided techniques has the potential to add valuable information and standardization regarding the presence of plus disease, an important criterion in deciding the necessity of treatment of vision-threatening retinopathy of prematurity. A review of literature found that several techniques have been published examining the process and role of computer aided analysis of plus disease in retinopathy of prematurity. These techniques use semiautomated image analysis techniques to evaluate retinal vascular dilation and tortuosity, using calculated parameters to evaluate presence or absence of plus disease. These values are then compared with expert consensus. The study concludes that computer-aided image analysis has the potential to use quantitative and objective criteria to act as a supplemental tool in evaluating for plus disease in the setting of retinopathy of prematurity.

Evaluation of patient suitability for a retinal prosthesis using structural and functional tests of inner retinal integrity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Qiuhen; Chowdhury, Vivek; Coroneo, Minas Theodore

2009-06-01

The purpose of this study was to assess inner retinal structure and function in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) using optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging of the retina, and electrical stimulation of the retina with a contact lens electrode. OCT images of 17 RP patients were acquired at the macula and at four quadrants of the peripheral retina in both eyes. Analysis was made of the residual inner retinal thickness and nerve fibre layer thickness in RP patients, and this was compared to normal controls. Eight of these patients further underwent contact lens electrical stimulation of one eye and thresholds for phosphene perception were obtained. OCT imaging showed a significant amount of inner retinal preservation in the peripheral retina and the macula of RP patients despite severe visual acuity and visual field loss. Phosphene thresholds were obtained across the range of pulse durations tested but were much higher than those obtained in normal controls. Phosphene thresholds in RP patients moderately correlated with inner retinal thicknesses as measured by OCT. Preservation of inner retinal structure in patients with RP and the responsiveness of these eyes to electrical stimulation suggest adequate inner retinal preservation for a retinal prosthesis to be successful.

Concurrent OCT imaging of stimulus evoked retinal neural activation and hemodynamic responses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Son, Taeyoon; Wang, Benquan; Lu, Yiming; Chen, Yanjun; Cao, Dingcai; Yao, Xincheng

2017-02-01

It is well established that major retinal diseases involve distortions of the retinal neural physiology and blood vascular structures. However, the details of distortions in retinal neurovascular coupling associated with major eye diseases are not well understood. In this study, a multi-modal optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging system was developed to enable concurrent imaging of retinal neural activity and vascular hemodynamics. Flicker light stimulation was applied to mouse retinas to evoke retinal neural responses and hemodynamic changes. The OCT images were acquired continuously during the pre-stimulation, light-stimulation, and post-stimulation phases. Stimulus-evoked intrinsic optical signals (IOSs) and hemodynamic changes were observed over time in blood-free and blood regions, respectively. Rapid IOSs change occurred almost immediately after stimulation. Both positive and negative signals were observed in adjacent retinal areas. The hemodynamic changes showed time delays after stimulation. The signal magnitudes induced by light stimulation were observed in blood regions and did not show significant changes in blood-free regions. These differences may arise from different mechanisms in blood vessels and neural tissues in response to light stimulation. These characteristics agreed well with our previous observations in mouse retinas. Further development of the multimodal OCT may provide a new imaging method for studying how retinal structures and metabolic and neural functions are affected by age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), and other diseases, which promises novel noninvasive biomarkers for early disease detection and reliable treatment evaluations of eye diseases.

Color Doppler imaging of retinal diseases.

PubMed

Dimitrova, Galina; Kato, Satoshi

2010-01-01

Color Doppler imaging (CDI) is a widely used method for evaluating ocular circulation that has been used in a number of studies on retinal diseases. CDI assesses blood velocity parameters by using ultrasound waves. In ophthalmology, these assessments are mainly performed on the retrobulbar blood vessels: the ophthalmic, the central retinal, and the short posterior ciliary arteries. In this review, we discuss CDI use for the assessment of retinal diseases classified into the following: vascular diseases, degenerations, dystrophies, and detachment. The retinal vascular diseases that have been investigated by CDI include diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusions, retinal artery occlusions, ocular ischemic conditions, and retinopathy of prematurity. Degenerations and dystrophies included in this review are age-related macular degeneration, myopia, and retinitis pigmentosa. CDI has been used for the differential diagnosis of retinal detachment, as well as the evaluation of retrobulbar circulation in this condition. CDI is valuable for research and is a potentially useful diagnostic tool in the clinical setting.

Multimodal ophthalmic imaging using spectrally encoded scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Haddad, Mohamed T.; Malone, Joseph D.; Li, Jianwei D.; Bozic, Ivan; Arquitola, Amber M.; Joos, Karen M.; Patel, Shriji N.; Tao, Yuankai K.

2017-08-01

Ophthalmic surgery involves manipulation of delicate, layered tissue structures on milli- to micrometer scales. Traditional surgical microscopes provide an inherently two-dimensional view of the surgical field with limited depth perception which precludes accurate depth-resolved visualization of these tissue layers, and limits the development of novel surgical techniques. We demonstrate multimodal swept-source spectrally encoded scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography (SS-SESLO-OCT) to address current limitations of image-guided ophthalmic microsurgery. SS-SESLO-OCT provides inherently co-registered en face and cross-sectional field-of-views (FOVs) at a line rate of 400 kHz and >2 GPix/s throughput. We show in vivo imaging of the anterior segment and retinal fundus of a healthy volunteer, and preliminary results of multi-volumetric mosaicking for ultrawide-field retinal imaging with 90° FOV. Additionally, a scan-head was rapid-prototyped with a modular architecture which enabled integration of SS-SESLO-OCT with traditional surgical microscope and slit-lamp imaging optics. Ex vivo surgical maneuvers were simulated in cadaveric porcine eyes. The system throughput enabled volumetric acquisition at 10 volumes-per-second (vps) and allowed visualization of surgical dynamics in corneal sweeps, compressions, and dissections, and retinal sweeps, compressions, and elevations. SESLO en face images enabled simple real-time co-registration with the surgical microscope FOV, and OCT cross-sections provided depth-resolved visualization of instrument-tissue interactions. Finally, we demonstrate novel augmented-reality integration with the surgical view using segmentation overlays to aid surgical guidance. SS-SESLO-OCT may benefit clinical diagnostics by enabling aiming, registration, and mosaicking; and intraoperative imaging by allowing for real-time surgical feedback, instrument tracking, and overlays of computationally extracted biomarkers of disease.

Ocular aberrations with ray tracing and Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensors: Does polarization play a role?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marcos, Susana; Diaz-Santana, Luis; Llorente, Lourdes; Dainty, Chris

2002-06-01

Ocular aberrations were measured in 71 eyes by using two reflectometric aberrometers, employing laser ray tracing (LRT) (60 eyes) and a Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor (S-H) (11 eyes). In both techniques a point source is imaged on the retina (through different pupil positions in the LRT or a single position in the S-H). The aberrations are estimated by measuring the deviations of the retinal spot from the reference as the pupil is sampled (in LRT) or the deviations of a wave front as it emerges from the eye by means of a lenslet array (in the S-H). In this paper we studied the effect of different polarization configurations in the aberration measurements, including linearly polarized light and circularly polarized light in the illuminating channel and sampling light in the crossed or parallel orientations. In addition, completely depolarized light in the imaging channel was obtained from retinal lipofuscin autofluorescence. The intensity distribution of the retinal spots as a function of entry (for LRT) or exit pupil (for S-H) depends on the polarization configuration. These intensity patterns show bright corners and a dark area at the pupil center for crossed polarization, an approximately Gaussian distribution for parallel polarization and a homogeneous distribution for the autofluorescence case. However, the measured aberrations are independent of the polarization states. These results indicate that the differences in retardation across the pupil imposed by corneal birefringence do not produce significant phase delays compared with those produced by aberrations, at least within the accuracy of these techniques. In addition, differences in the recorded aerial images due to changes in polarization do not affect the aberration measurements in these reflectometric aberrometers.

ROx3: Retinal oximetry utilizing the blue-green oximetry method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parsons, Jennifer Kathleen Hendryx

The ROx is a retinal oximeter under development with the purpose of non-invasively and accurately measuring oxygen saturation (SO2) in vivo. It is novel in that it utilizes the blue-green oximetry technique with on-axis illumination. ROx calibration tests were performed by inducing hypoxia in live anesthetized swine and comparing ROx measurements to SO 2 values measured by a CO-Oximeter. Calibration was not achieved to the precision required for clinical use, but limiting factors were identified and improved. The ROx was used in a set of sepsis experiments on live pigs with the intention of tracking retinal SO2 during the development of sepsis. Though conclusions are qualitative due to insufficient calibration of the device, retinal venous SO2 is shown to trend generally with central venous SO2 as sepsis develops. The novel sepsis model developed in these experiments is also described. The method of cecal ligation and perforation with additional soiling of the abdomen consistently produced controllable severe sepsis/septic shock in a matter of hours. In addition, the ROx was used to collect retinal images from a healthy human volunteer. These experiments served as a bench test for several of the additions/modifications made to the ROx. This set of experiments specifically served to illuminate problems with various light paths and image acquisition. The analysis procedure for the ROx is under development, particularly automating the process for consistency, accuracy, and time efficiency. The current stage of automation is explained, including data acquisition processes and the automated vessel fit routine. Suggestions for the next generation of device minimization are also described.

Automatic Tortuosity-Based Retinopathy of Prematurity Screening System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukkaew, Lassada; Uyyanonvara, Bunyarit; Makhanov, Stanislav S.; Barman, Sarah; Pangputhipong, Pannet

Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is an infant disease characterized by increased dilation and tortuosity of the retinal blood vessels. Automatic tortuosity evaluation from retinal digital images is very useful to facilitate an ophthalmologist in the ROP screening and to prevent childhood blindness. This paper proposes a method to automatically classify the image into tortuous and non-tortuous. The process imitates expert ophthalmologists' screening by searching for clearly tortuous vessel segments. First, a skeleton of the retinal blood vessels is extracted from the original infant retinal image using a series of morphological operators. Next, we propose to partition the blood vessels recursively using an adaptive linear interpolation scheme. Finally, the tortuosity is calculated based on the curvature of the resulting vessel segments. The retinal images are then classified into two classes using segments characterized by the highest tortuosity. For an optimal set of training parameters the prediction is as high as 100%.

Retinitis Pigmentosa Sine Pigmento Mimicking a Chiasm Disease

PubMed Central

Pellegrini, Francesco; Prosdocimo, Giovanni; Romano, Francesco; Interlandi, Emanuela

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT A 75-year-old woman presented to her ophthalmologist complaining of visual loss for several years. The ophthalmic examination was remarkable for a bitemporal visual field defect. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain was normal without evidence of chiasm compression. Neuro-ophthalmic examination was consistent with a retinal rather than a chiasmal disease. Retinal multimodal imaging helped in the correct diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa, later confirmed by genetic testing. PMID:29344059

Optimization of the open-loop liquid crystal adaptive optics retinal imaging system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Ningning; Li, Chao; Xia, Mingliang; Li, Dayu; Qi, Yue; Xuan, Li

2012-02-01

An open-loop adaptive optics (AO) system for retinal imaging was constructed using a liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) as the wavefront compensator. Due to the dispersion of the LC-SLM, there was only one illumination source for both aberration detection and retinal imaging in this system. To increase the field of view (FOV) for retinal imaging, a modified mechanical shutter was integrated into the illumination channel to control the size of the illumination spot on the fundus. The AO loop was operated in a pulsing mode, and the fundus was illuminated twice by two laser impulses in a single AO correction loop. As a result, the FOV for retinal imaging was increased to 1.7-deg without compromising the aberration detection accuracy. The correction precision of the open-loop AO system was evaluated in a closed-loop configuration; the residual error is approximately 0.0909λ (root-mean-square, RMS), and the Strehl ratio ranges to 0.7217. Two subjects with differing rates of myopia (-3D and -5D) were tested. High-resolution images of capillaries and photoreceptors were obtained.

Retinal Image Quality During Accommodation

PubMed Central

López-Gil, N.; Martin, J.; Liu, T.; Bradley, A.; Díaz-Muñoz, D.; Thibos, L.

2013-01-01

Purpose We asked if retinal image quality is maximum during accommodation, or sub-optimal due to accommodative error, when subjects perform an acuity task. Methods Subjects viewed a monochromatic (552nm), high-contrast letter target placed at various viewing distances. Wavefront aberrations of the accommodating eye were measured near the endpoint of an acuity staircase paradigm. Refractive state, defined as the optimum target vergence for maximising retinal image quality, was computed by through-focus wavefront analysis to find the power of the virtual correcting lens that maximizes visual Strehl ratio. Results Despite changes in ocular aberrations and pupil size during binocular viewing, retinal image quality and visual acuity typically remain high for all target vergences. When accommodative errors lead to sub-optimal retinal image quality, acuity and measured image quality both decline. However, the effect of accommodation errors of on visual acuity are mitigated by pupillary constriction associated with accommodation and binocular convergence and also to binocular summation of dissimilar retinal image blur. Under monocular viewing conditions some subjects displayed significant accommodative lag that reduced visual performance, an effect that was exacerbated by pharmacological dilation of the pupil. Conclusions Spurious measurement of accommodative error can be avoided when the image quality metric used to determine refractive state is compatible with the focusing criteria used by the visual system to control accommodation. Real focusing errors of the accommodating eye do not necessarily produce a reliably measurable loss of image quality or clinically significant loss of visual performance, probably because of increased depth-of-focus due to pupil constriction. When retinal image quality is close to maximum achievable (given the eye’s higher-order aberrations), acuity is also near maximum. A combination of accommodative lag, reduced image quality, and reduced visual function may be a useful sign for diagnosing functionally-significant accommodative errors indicating the need for therapeutic intervention. PMID:23786386

Retinal image quality during accommodation.

PubMed

López-Gil, Norberto; Martin, Jesson; Liu, Tao; Bradley, Arthur; Díaz-Muñoz, David; Thibos, Larry N

2013-07-01

We asked if retinal image quality is maximum during accommodation, or sub-optimal due to accommodative error, when subjects perform an acuity task. Subjects viewed a monochromatic (552 nm), high-contrast letter target placed at various viewing distances. Wavefront aberrations of the accommodating eye were measured near the endpoint of an acuity staircase paradigm. Refractive state, defined as the optimum target vergence for maximising retinal image quality, was computed by through-focus wavefront analysis to find the power of the virtual correcting lens that maximizes visual Strehl ratio. Despite changes in ocular aberrations and pupil size during binocular viewing, retinal image quality and visual acuity typically remain high for all target vergences. When accommodative errors lead to sub-optimal retinal image quality, acuity and measured image quality both decline. However, the effect of accommodation errors of on visual acuity are mitigated by pupillary constriction associated with accommodation and binocular convergence and also to binocular summation of dissimilar retinal image blur. Under monocular viewing conditions some subjects displayed significant accommodative lag that reduced visual performance, an effect that was exacerbated by pharmacological dilation of the pupil. Spurious measurement of accommodative error can be avoided when the image quality metric used to determine refractive state is compatible with the focusing criteria used by the visual system to control accommodation. Real focusing errors of the accommodating eye do not necessarily produce a reliably measurable loss of image quality or clinically significant loss of visual performance, probably because of increased depth-of-focus due to pupil constriction. When retinal image quality is close to maximum achievable (given the eye's higher-order aberrations), acuity is also near maximum. A combination of accommodative lag, reduced image quality, and reduced visual function may be a useful sign for diagnosing functionally-significant accommodative errors indicating the need for therapeutic intervention. © 2013 The Authors Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2013 The College of Optometrists.

Comparison of Nondiabetic Retinal Findings Identified With Nonmydriatic Fundus Photography vs Ultrawide Field Imaging in an Ocular Telehealth Program.

PubMed

Silva, Paolo S; Cavallerano, Jerry D; Haddad, Nour Maya N; Tolls, Dorothy; Thakore, Komal; Patel, Bina; Sehizadeh, Mina; Tolson, Ann M; Sun, Jennifer K; Aiello, Lloyd Paul

2016-03-01

Ultrawide field imaging (UWFI) is increasingly being used in teleophthalmology settings. Given the greater area of the retina imaged, we evaluated the ability of UWFI vs nonmydriatic fundus photography (NMFP) to detect nondiabetic retinal findings in a teleophthalmology program. We conducted a retrospective single-center comparative cohort study from January 1, 2011, to June 30, 2013, imaging 3864 and 3971 consecutive teleophthalmology patients (7728 and 7942 eyes) using NMFP and UWFI, respectively. Standard diabetic retinopathy evaluation and nondiabetic findings were compared between the 2 imaging modalities. In patients without diabetic retinopathy (2243 by NMFP and 2252 by UWFI), the rate of identification of nondiabetic findings by NMFP (451 patients [20.1%]) and UWFI (490 [21.8%]) were comparable (P = .19). Ultrawide field imaging increased the identification of choroidal nevi by 27% (406 eyes [5.3%] by NMFP vs 545 eyes [6.9%] by UWFI; P < .001) and chorioretinal atrophy or scarring by 116% (50 eyes [0.6%] by NMFP vs 101 eyes [1.3%] by UWFI; P < .001). No peripheral retinal findings were identified with NMFP, while UWFI detected 25 retinal tears (0.3%; P < .001), 54 lattice and peripheral degenerations (0.7%; P < .001), and 142 cases of vitreous detachment or floaters (1.8%; P < .001). Data analysis was performed from November 1, 2013, to May 1, 2014. In eyes without diabetic retinopathy, approximately 20% may have ocular findings identified on retinal imaging, which emphasizes the role of retinal imaging in patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 and type 2 regardless of the severity of retinopathy. In this cohort, UWFI increased the identification of peripheral retinal and vitreous pathologic findings.

MULTIMODAL IMAGING OF MOSAIC RETINOPATHY IN CARRIERS OF HEREDITARY X-LINKED RECESSIVE DISEASES.

PubMed

Wu, An-Lun; Wang, Jung-Pan; Tseng, Yun-Ju; Liu, Laura; Kang, Yu-Chuan; Chen, Kuan-Jen; Chao, An-Ning; Yeh, Lung-Kun; Chen, Tun-Lu; Hwang, Yih-Shiou; Wu, Wei-Chi; Lai, Chi-Chun; Wang, Nan-Kai

2018-05-01

To investigate the clinical features in carriers of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, X-linked ocular albinism, and choroideremia (CHM) using multimodal imaging and to assess their diagnostic value in these three mosaic retinopathies. We prospectively examined 14 carriers of 3 X-linked recessive disorders (X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, X-linked ocular albinism, and CHM). Details of abnormalities of retinal morphology were evaluated using fundus photography, fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging, and spectral domain optical coherence tomography. In six X-linked retinitis pigmentosa carriers, fundus appearance varied from unremarkable to the presence of tapetal-like reflex and pigmentary changes. On FAF imaging, all carriers exhibited a bright radial reflex against a dark background. By spectral domain optical coherence tomography, loss of the ellipsoid zone in the macula was observed in 3 carriers (50%). Regarding the retinal laminar architecture, 4 carriers (66.7%) showed thinning of the outer nuclear layer and a dentate appearance of the outer plexiform layer. All five X-linked ocular albinism carriers showed a characteristic mud-splatter patterned fundus, dark radial streaks against a bright background on FAF imaging, and a normal-appearing retinal structure by spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging. Two of the 3 CHM carriers (66.7%) showed a diffuse moth-eaten appearance of the fundus, and all 3 showed irregular hyper-FAF and hypo-FAF spots throughout the affected area. In the CHM carriers, the structural changes observed by spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging were variable. Our findings in an Asian cohort suggest that FAF imaging is a practical diagnostic test for differentiating X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, X-linked ocular albinism, and CHM carriers. Wide-field FAF is an easy and helpful adjunct to testing for the correct diagnosis and identification of lyonization in carriers of these three mosaic retinopathies.

Cone photoreceptor definition on adaptive optics retinal imaging.

PubMed

Muthiah, Manickam Nick; Gias, Carlos; Chen, Fred Kuanfu; Zhong, Joe; McClelland, Zoe; Sallo, Ferenc B; Peto, Tunde; Coffey, Peter J; da Cruz, Lyndon

2014-08-01

To quantitatively analyse cone photoreceptor matrices on images captured on an adaptive optics (AO) camera and assess their correlation to well-established parameters in the retinal histology literature. High resolution retinal images were acquired from 10 healthy subjects, aged 20-35 years old, using an AO camera (rtx1, Imagine Eyes, France). Left eye images were captured at 5° of retinal eccentricity, temporal to the fovea for consistency. In three subjects, images were also acquired at 0, 2, 3, 5 and 7° retinal eccentricities. Cone photoreceptor density was calculated following manual and automated counting. Inter-photoreceptor distance was also calculated. Voronoi domain and power spectrum analyses were performed for all images. At 5° eccentricity, the cone density (cones/mm(2) mean±SD) was 15.3±1.4×10(3) (automated) and 13.9±1.0×10(3) (manual) and the mean inter-photoreceptor distance was 8.6±0.4 μm. Cone density decreased and inter-photoreceptor distance increased with increasing retinal eccentricity from 2 to 7°. A regular hexagonal cone photoreceptor mosaic pattern was seen at 2, 3 and 5° of retinal eccentricity. Imaging data acquired from the AO camera match cone density, intercone distance and show the known features of cone photoreceptor distribution in the pericentral retina as reported by histology, namely, decreasing density values from 2 to 7° of eccentricity and the hexagonal packing arrangement. This confirms that AO flood imaging provides reliable estimates of pericentral cone photoreceptor distribution in normal subjects. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Automatic segmentation of pigment deposits in retinal fundus images of Retinitis Pigmentosa.

PubMed

Brancati, Nadia; Frucci, Maria; Gragnaniello, Diego; Riccio, Daniel; Di Iorio, Valentina; Di Perna, Luigi

2018-06-01

Retinitis Pigmentosa is an eye disease that presents with a slow loss of vision and then evolves until blindness results. The automatic detection of the early signs of retinitis pigmentosa acts as a great support to ophthalmologists in the diagnosis and monitoring of the disease in order to slow down the degenerative process. A large body of literature is devoted to the analysis of Retinitis Pigmentosa. However, all the existing approaches work on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) data, while hardly any attempts have been made working on fundus images. Fundus image analysis is a suitable tool in daily practice for an early detection of retinal diseases and the monitoring of their progression. Moreover, the fundus camera represents a low-cost and easy-access diagnostic system, which can be employed in resource-limited regions and countries. The fundus images of a patient suffering from retinitis pigmentosa are characterized by an attenuation of the vessels, a waxy disc pallor and the presence of pigment deposits. Considering that several methods have been proposed for the analysis of retinal vessels and the optic disk, this work focuses on the automatic segmentation of the pigment deposits in the fundus images. The image distortions are attenuated by applying a local pre-processing. Next, a watershed transformation is carried out to produce homogeneous regions. Working on regions rather than on pixels makes the method very robust to the high variability of pigment deposits in terms of color and shape, so allowing the detection even of small pigment deposits. The regions undergo a feature extraction procedure, so that a region classification process is performed by means of an outlier detection analysis and a rule set. The experiments have been performed on a dataset of images of patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa. Although the images present a high variability in terms of color and illumination, the method provides a good performance in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and the F-measure, whose values are 74.43, 98.44, 97.90, 59.04, respectively. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tumor necrosis factor and its receptors in the neuroretina and retinal vasculature after ischemia-reperfusion injury in the pig retina

PubMed Central

Gesslein, Bodil; Håkansson, Gisela; Gustafsson, Lotta; Ekström, Per

2010-01-01

Purpose Numerous studies have been performed aimed at limiting the extent of retinal injury after ischemia, but there is still no effective pharmacological treatment available. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α and its receptors (TNF-R1 and TNF-R2), especially considering the neuroretina and the retinal vasculature since the retinal blood vessels are key organs in circulatory failure. Methods Retinal ischemia was induced in pigs by elevating the intraocular pressure to 80 mmHg in one eye, while the other eye served as a control (sham-operated). One hour of ischemia was followed by 5 or 12 h of reperfusion. Retinal circulation was examined in vivo by fundus imaging and fluorescein angiography. TNF-α levels were measured in the vitreous using an angiogenesis antibody array test. The presence and amounts of TNF-α, TNF-R1, and TNF-R2 were investigated in the neuroretina and in the retinal blood vessels, using immunofluorescence staining and real-time PCR techniques. Results Fundus imaging showed obstructed blood flow when ischemia was induced, and reperfusion was clearly visualized using fluorescein angiography. Ischemia resulted in elevated levels of TNF-α protein in the vitreous and TNF-α mRNA in the neuroretina. TNF-α immunofluorescence staining was localized to the Müller cells and the outer plexiform layer of the neuroretina. The expression of TNF-R1 and TNF-R2 mRNA was increased in both the neuroretina and retinal arteries following ischemia-reperfusion. Immunofluorescence double staining for TNF-R1 and either smooth muscle actin or 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) indicated expression in the cell membranes of the vascular smooth muscle cells. Double staining with TNF-R1 and calbindin showed localization to the horizontal cells in the outer plexiform layer of the neuroretina. Conclusions Retinal ischemia results in increased expression of TNF-α and its receptors (TNF-R1 and TNF-R2). Cellular signaling pathways involving TNF may be important in the development of retinal injury following ischemia and thus an interesting target for future development of pharmacological therapeutics. PMID:21152396

Error analysis of filtering operations in pixel-duplicated images of diabetic retinopathy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehrubeoglu, Mehrube; McLauchlan, Lifford

2010-08-01

In this paper, diabetic retinopathy is chosen for a sample target image to demonstrate the effectiveness of image enlargement through pixel duplication in identifying regions of interest. Pixel duplication is presented as a simpler alternative to data interpolation techniques for detecting small structures in the images. A comparative analysis is performed on different image processing schemes applied to both original and pixel-duplicated images. Structures of interest are detected and and classification parameters optimized for minimum false positive detection in the original and enlarged retinal pictures. The error analysis demonstrates the advantages as well as shortcomings of pixel duplication in image enhancement when spatial averaging operations (smoothing filters) are also applied.

Alterations in Retinal Layer Thickness and Reflectance at Different Stages of Diabetic Retinopathy by En Face Optical Coherence Tomography

PubMed Central

Wanek, Justin; Blair, Norman P.; Chau, Felix Y.; Lim, Jennifer I.; Leiderman, Yannek I.; Shahidi, Mahnaz

2016-01-01

Purpose This article reports a method for en face optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging and quantitative assessment of alterations in both thickness and reflectance of individual retinal layers at different stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods High-density OCT raster volume scans were acquired in 29 diabetic subjects divided into no DR (NDR) or non-proliferative DR (NPDR) groups and 22 control subjects (CNTL). A customized image segmentation method identified eight retinal layer interfaces and generated en face thickness maps and reflectance images for nerve fiber layer (NFL), ganglion cell and inner plexiform layers (GCLIPL), inner nuclear layer (INL), outer plexiform layer (OPL), outer nuclear layer (ONL), photoreceptor outer segment layer (OSL), and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Mean thickness and intensity values were calculated in nine macular subfields for each retinal layer. Results En face thickness maps and reflectance images of retinal layers in CNTL subjects corresponded to normal retinal anatomy. Total retinal thickness correlated negatively with age in nasal subfields (R ≤−0.31; P ≤ 0.03, N = 51). In NDR subjects, NFL and OPL thickness were decreased (P = 0.05), and ONL thickness was increased (P = 0.04) compared to CNTL. In NPDR subjects, GCLIPL thickness was increased in perifoveal subfields (P < 0.05) and INL intensity was higher in all macular subfields (P = 0.04) compared to CNTL. Conclusions Depth and spatially resolved retinal thickness and reflectance measurements are potential biomarkers for assessment and monitoring of DR. PMID:27409491

Retinal image quality assessment based on image clarity and content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdel-Hamid, Lamiaa; El-Rafei, Ahmed; El-Ramly, Salwa; Michelson, Georg; Hornegger, Joachim

2016-09-01

Retinal image quality assessment (RIQA) is an essential step in automated screening systems to avoid misdiagnosis caused by processing poor quality retinal images. A no-reference transform-based RIQA algorithm is introduced that assesses images based on five clarity and content quality issues: sharpness, illumination, homogeneity, field definition, and content. Transform-based RIQA algorithms have the advantage of considering retinal structures while being computationally inexpensive. Wavelet-based features are proposed to evaluate the sharpness and overall illumination of the images. A retinal saturation channel is designed and used along with wavelet-based features for homogeneity assessment. The presented sharpness and illumination features are utilized to assure adequate field definition, whereas color information is used to exclude nonretinal images. Several publicly available datasets of varying quality grades are utilized to evaluate the feature sets resulting in area under the receiver operating characteristic curve above 0.99 for each of the individual feature sets. The overall quality is assessed by a classifier that uses the collective features as an input vector. The classification results show superior performance of the algorithm in comparison to other methods from literature. Moreover, the algorithm addresses efficiently and comprehensively various quality issues and is suitable for automatic screening systems.

Restoration of retinal images with space-variant blur.

PubMed

Marrugo, Andrés G; Millán, María S; Sorel, Michal; Sroubek, Filip

2014-01-01

Retinal images are essential clinical resources for the diagnosis of retinopathy and many other ocular diseases. Because of improper acquisition conditions or inherent optical aberrations in the eye, the images are often degraded with blur. In many common cases, the blur varies across the field of view. Most image deblurring algorithms assume a space-invariant blur, which fails in the presence of space-variant (SV) blur. In this work, we propose an innovative strategy for the restoration of retinal images in which we consider the blur to be both unknown and SV. We model the blur by a linear operation interpreted as a convolution with a point-spread function (PSF) that changes with the position in the image. To achieve an artifact-free restoration, we propose a framework for a robust estimation of the SV PSF based on an eye-domain knowledge strategy. The restoration method was tested on artificially and naturally degraded retinal images. The results show an important enhancement, significant enough to leverage the images' clinical use.

The application of retinal fundus camera imaging in dementia: A systematic review.

PubMed

McGrory, Sarah; Cameron, James R; Pellegrini, Enrico; Warren, Claire; Doubal, Fergus N; Deary, Ian J; Dhillon, Baljean; Wardlaw, Joanna M; Trucco, Emanuele; MacGillivray, Thomas J

2017-01-01

The ease of imaging the retinal vasculature, and the evolving evidence suggesting this microvascular bed might reflect the cerebral microvasculature, presents an opportunity to investigate cerebrovascular disease and the contribution of microvascular disease to dementia with fundus camera imaging. A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out to assess the measurement of retinal properties in dementia using fundus imaging. Ten studies assessing retinal properties in dementia were included. Quantitative measurement revealed significant yet inconsistent pathologic changes in vessel caliber, tortuosity, and fractal dimension. Retinopathy was more prevalent in dementia. No association of age-related macular degeneration with dementia was reported. Inconsistent findings across studies provide tentative support for the application of fundus camera imaging as a means of identifying changes associated with dementia. The potential of fundus image analysis in differentiating between dementia subtypes should be investigated using larger well-characterized samples. Future work should focus on refining and standardizing methods and measurements.

Reliability of Using Retinal Vascular Fractal Dimension as a Biomarker in the Diabetic Retinopathy Detection

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jiong; Bekkers, Erik; Abbasi-Sureshjani, Samaneh

2016-01-01

The retinal fractal dimension (FD) is a measure of vasculature branching pattern complexity. FD has been considered as a potential biomarker for the detection of several diseases like diabetes and hypertension. However, conflicting findings were found in the reported literature regarding the association between this biomarker and diseases. In this paper, we examine the stability of the FD measurement with respect to (1) different vessel annotations obtained from human observers, (2) automatic segmentation methods, (3) various regions of interest, (4) accuracy of vessel segmentation methods, and (5) different imaging modalities. Our results demonstrate that the relative errors for the measurement of FD are significant and FD varies considerably according to the image quality, modality, and the technique used for measuring it. Automated and semiautomated methods for the measurement of FD are not stable enough, which makes FD a deceptive biomarker in quantitative clinical applications. PMID:27703803

Reliability of Using Retinal Vascular Fractal Dimension as a Biomarker in the Diabetic Retinopathy Detection.

PubMed

Huang, Fan; Dashtbozorg, Behdad; Zhang, Jiong; Bekkers, Erik; Abbasi-Sureshjani, Samaneh; Berendschot, Tos T J M; Ter Haar Romeny, Bart M

2016-01-01

The retinal fractal dimension (FD) is a measure of vasculature branching pattern complexity. FD has been considered as a potential biomarker for the detection of several diseases like diabetes and hypertension. However, conflicting findings were found in the reported literature regarding the association between this biomarker and diseases. In this paper, we examine the stability of the FD measurement with respect to (1) different vessel annotations obtained from human observers, (2) automatic segmentation methods, (3) various regions of interest, (4) accuracy of vessel segmentation methods, and (5) different imaging modalities. Our results demonstrate that the relative errors for the measurement of FD are significant and FD varies considerably according to the image quality, modality, and the technique used for measuring it. Automated and semiautomated methods for the measurement of FD are not stable enough, which makes FD a deceptive biomarker in quantitative clinical applications.

Autofluorescence Imaging and Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography in Incomplete Congenital Stationary Night Blindness and Comparison with Retinitis Pigmentosa

PubMed Central

CHEN, ROYCE W. S.; GREENBERG, JONATHAN P.; LAZOW, MARGOT A.; RAMACHANDRAN, RITHU; LIMA, LUIZ H.; HWANG, JOHN C.; SCHUBERT, CARL; BRAUNSTEIN, ALEXANDRA; ALLIKMETS, RANDO; TSANG, STEPHEN H.

2015-01-01

PURPOSE To test the hypothesis that the evaluation of retinal structure can have diagnostic value in differentiating between incomplete congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB2) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). To compare retinal thickness differences between patients with CSNB2 and myopic controls. DESIGN Prospective cross-sectional study. METHODS Ten eyes of 5 patients diagnosed with CSNB2 (4 X-linked recessive, 1 autosomal recessive) and 6 eyes of 3 patients with RP (2 autosomal dominant, 1 autosomal recessive) were evaluated with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD OCT) and fundus autofluorescence (FAF). Diagnoses of CSNB2 and RP were confirmed by full-field electroretinography (ERG). Manual segmentation of retinal layers, aided by a computer program, was performed by 2 professional segmenters on SD OCT images of all CSNB2 patients and 4 age-similar, normal myopic controls. Seven patients were screened for mutations with congenital stationary night blindness and RP genotyping arrays. RESULTS Patients with CSNB2 had specific findings on SD OCT and FAF that were distinct from those found in RP. CSNB2 patients showed qualitatively normal SD OCT results with preserved photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment junction, whereas this junction was lost in RP patients. In addition, CSNB2 patients had normal FAF images, whereas patients with RP demonstrated a ring of increased autofluorescence around the macula. On SD OCT segmentation, the inner and outer retinal layers of both X-linked recessive and autosomal recessive CSNB2 patients were thinner compared with those of normal myopic controls, with means generally outside of normal 95% confidence intervals. The only layers that demonstrated similar thickness between CSNB2 patients and the controls were the retinal nerve fiber layer and, temporal to the fovea, the combined outer segment layer and retinal pigment epithelium. A proband and his 2 affected brothers from a family segregating X-linked recessive CSNB2 had a mutation, p.R614X, in the gene encoding calcium channel, α 1F subunit. CONCLUSIONS CSNB2 patients (X-linked recessive and autosomal recessive) had significantly thinner retinas than myopic controls. However, they demonstrated qualitatively normal SD OCT and FAF images, and therefore can be differentiated from RP patients with these techniques. Although ERG testing remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of these conditions, FAF and SD OCT systems are more widely available to community ophthalmologists, offer shorter acquisition times, and, unlike ERG, can be performed on the same day as the initial clinic visit. Therefore, as a supplement to ERG and genetic testing, we advocate the use of FAF and SD OCT in the examination of patients with CSNB2 and RP. PMID:21920492

Longitudinal in vivo imaging of retinal gliosis in a diabetic mouse model.

PubMed

Kumar, Saravana; Zhuo, Lang

2010-10-01

In this study, we visualize and quantify retinal gliosis in vivo for monitoring early diabetic retinopathy (DR) in a transgenic mouse model. Onset of diabetes was triggered via intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) into transgenic F1 hybrid (FVB/N × C57BL/6J) mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) promoter. Retinal glial cells are imaged once pre-STZ treatment followed by weekly post-STZ imaging for five weeks using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope. Mice develop diabetes one week after STZ induction as confirmed from the high blood glucose levels (>13.9 mmol/L). A significant increase is observed in the GFAP-GFP transgene expression from astrocytic cell bodies and processes as early as week 5 for the STZ-treated mice. Retinal astrocytes also undergo hyperplasia progressively from week 0 to 5. This precedes any structural abnormalities to the retinal vasculature. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) on retinal sections as well as quantitative RT-PCR of endogenous and transgene GFAP mRNA supports our in vivo observation. Our in vivo data correlates with clinical reports with regards to retinal gliosis-related inflammatory response during early diabetic retinopathy. This opens up the possibility of using in vivo molecular imaging of retinal glial cells as a platform for monitoring the efficacy of anti-DR drug candidates which intervene at an early stage.

Visualization of micro-capillaries using optical coherence tomography angiography with and without adaptive optics.

PubMed

Salas, Matthias; Augustin, Marco; Ginner, Laurin; Kumar, Abhishek; Baumann, Bernhard; Leitgeb, Rainer; Drexler, Wolfgang; Prager, Sonja; Hafner, Julia; Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula; Pircher, Michael

2017-01-01

The purpose of this work is to investigate the benefits of adaptive optics (AO) technology for optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). OCTA has shown great potential in non-invasively enhancing the contrast of vessels and small capillaries. Especially the capability of the technique to visualize capillaries with a lateral extension that is below the transverse resolution of the system opens unique opportunities in diagnosing retinal vascular diseases. However, there are some limitations of this technology such as shadowing and projection artifacts caused by overlying vasculature or the inability to determine the true extension of a vessel. Thus, the evaluation of the vascular structure and density based on OCTA alone can be misleading. In this paper we compare the performance of AO-OCT, AO-OCTA and OCTA for imaging retinal vasculature. The improved transverse resolution and the reduced depth of focus of AO-OCT and AO-OCTA greatly reduce shadowing artifacts allowing for a better differentiation and segmentation of different vasculature layers of the inner retina. The comparison is done on images recorded in healthy volunteers and in diabetic patients with distinct pathologies of the retinal microvasculature.

Optic disc detection and boundary extraction in retinal images.

PubMed

Basit, A; Fraz, Muhammad Moazam

2015-04-10

With the development of digital image processing, analysis and modeling techniques, automatic retinal image analysis is emerging as an important screening tool for early detection of ophthalmologic disorders such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. In this paper, a robust method for optic disc detection and extraction of the optic disc boundary is proposed to help in the development of computer-assisted diagnosis and treatment of such ophthalmic disease. The proposed method is based on morphological operations, smoothing filters, and the marker controlled watershed transform. Internal and external markers are used to first modify the gradient magnitude image and then the watershed transformation is applied on this modified gradient magnitude image for boundary extraction. This method has shown significant improvement over existing methods in terms of detection and boundary extraction of the optic disc. The proposed method has optic disc detection success rate of 100%, 100%, 100% and 98.9% for the DRIVE, Shifa, CHASE_DB1, and DIARETDB1 databases, respectively. The optic disc boundary detection achieved an average spatial overlap of 61.88%, 70.96%, 45.61%, and 54.69% for these databases, respectively, which are higher than currents methods.

Retinal projection type super multi-view head-mounted display

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Hideya; Ito, Yutaka; Nakata, Seigo; Yamada, Kenji

2014-02-01

We propose a retinal projection type super multi-view head-mounted display (HMD). The smooth motion parallax provided by the super multi-view technique enables a precise superposition of virtual 3D images on the real scene. Moreover, if a viewer focuses one's eyes on the displayed 3D image, the stimulus for the accommodation of the human eye is produced naturally. Therefore, although proposed HMD is a monocular HMD, it provides observers with natural 3D images. The proposed HMD consists of an image projection optical system and a holographic optical element (HOE). The HOE is used as a combiner, and also works as a condenser lens to implement the Maxwellian view. Some parallax images are projected onto the HOE, and converged on the pupil, and then projected onto the retina. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed HMD, we constructed the prototype HMD. In the prototype HMD, the number of parallax images and the number of convergent points on the pupil is three. The distance between adjacent convergent points is 2 mm. We displayed virtual images at the distance from 20 cm to 200 cm in front of the pupil, and confirmed the accommodation. This paper describes the principle of proposed HMD, and also describes the experimental result.

Central nervous tissue: an excitable medium. a study using the retinal spreading depression as a tool.

PubMed

Hanke, Wolfgang; de Lima, Vera Maura Fernandes

2008-02-13

According to its physicochemical properties, neuronal tissue, including the central nervous system (CNS) and thus the human brain, is an excitable medium, which consequently exhibits, among other things, self-organization, pattern formation and propagating waves. Furthermore, such systems can be controlled by weak external forces. The spreading depression (SD), a propagating wave of excitation-depression, is such an event, which is additionally linked to a variety of medically important situations, classical migraine being just one example. Especially in retinal tissue, a true part of the CNS, the SD can be observed very easily with the naked eye and by video imaging techniques due to its big intrinsic optical signal. We have investigated the retinal SD and its control by external physical parameters such as gravity and temperature. Beyond this, especially due to its medical relevance, the control of CNS excitability by pharmacological tools is of specific interest, and we have studied this question in detail using the retinal SD as an experimental tool to collect information about the control of CNS tissue excitability.

Peripapillary nerve fiber layer thickness measurement reproducibility using optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Villain, Max A; Greenfield, David S

2003-01-01

To assess reproducibility of quadrantic and clock hour sectors of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in normal eyes using optical coherence tomography. Normal eyes of healthy volunteers meeting eligibility criteria were imaged by two inexperienced operators. Six 360 degrees circular scans with a diameter of 3.4 mm centered on the optic disc were obtained during each scanning session, and a baseline image was formed using 3 high-quality images defined by the software. Images were obtained on three different days within a 4-week period. Variance and coefficient of variation (CV) were calculated for quadrantic and retinal nerve fiber layer clock hour sectors obtained from the baseline image. Five normal eyes were scanned. Intraoperator reproducibility was high. The mean (+/- SD) CV for total retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was 5.3 +/- 3.82% and 4.33 +/- 3.7% for operators 1 and 2, respectively. Interoperator reproducibility was good with statistically similar variance for all quadrantic and clock hour retinal nerve fiber layer parameters (P = .42 to .99). The nasal retinal nerve fiber layer was the most variable sector for both operators (mean CV: 10.42% and 7.83% for operators 1 and 2, respectively). Differences in mean total, nasal, temporal, and superior retinal nerve fiber layer thickness were not statistically significant between operators for all eyes; however, for inferior retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, there was a significant (P = .0007) difference between operators in one eye. Peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness assessments using optical coherence tomography have good intraoperator and interoperator reproducibility. Inexperienced operators can generate useful measurement data with acceptable levels of variance.

OCT angiography by absolute intensity difference applied to normal and diseased human retinas

PubMed Central

Ruminski, Daniel; Sikorski, Bartosz L.; Bukowska, Danuta; Szkulmowski, Maciej; Krawiec, Krzysztof; Malukiewicz, Grazyna; Bieganowski, Lech; Wojtkowski, Maciej

2015-01-01

We compare four optical coherence tomography techniques for noninvasive visualization of microcapillary network in the human retina and murine cortex. We perform phantom studies to investigate contrast-to-noise ratio for angiographic images obtained with each of the algorithm. We show that the computationally simplest absolute intensity difference angiographic OCT algorithm that bases only on two cross-sectional intensity images may be successfully used in clinical study of healthy eyes and eyes with diabetic maculopathy and branch retinal vein occlusion. PMID:26309740

OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY FINDINGS IN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS RETINITIS: A Longitudinal Study.

PubMed

Invernizzi, Alessandro; Agarwal, Aniruddha; Ravera, Vittoria; Oldani, Marta; Staurenghi, Giovanni; Viola, Francesco

2018-01-01

To evaluate the vitreal, retinal, and choroidal features using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in eyes affected by cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis. Patients diagnosed with either active or inactive CMV retinitis were included in the study. Complete ophthalmic examination, serial color fundus photography, and SD-OCT (with and without enhanced depth imaging function) were performed for all the subjects at baseline and follow-up visits. The SD-OCT images were analyzed by two independent graders to evaluate the structural changes in areas of CMV retinitis. Prevalence data for vitreal, retinal, and choroidal SD-OCT features were collected. Twelve eyes from 9 patients (6 males, mean age: 52.7 ± 10.3 years) were enrolled. Nine eyes were diagnosed with active CMV retinitis at baseline. Active disease SD-OCT characteristic findings included nebulous vitritis (100%), posterior hyaloid thickening (83.3%), epiretinal membrane (100%), and retinal swelling (100%). Two distinct patterns of chorioretinal involvement were observed in active retinitis: 1) full-thickness retinitis (Full thickness retinitis) (n = 7 eyes) with choriocapillaris alterations and retinal pigment epithelial thickening and 2) cavernous retinitis (n = 3 eyes) characterized by inner retinal hyperreflectivity, large empty spaces in outer nuclear layer, and bridges of retinal tissue but retinal pigment epithelium and choriocapillaris sparing. Patients with cavernous retinitis develop retinal detachment during follow-up. Eyes with Full thickness retinitis developed choriocapillaris atrophy and choroidal thinning and retinal scars as the lesions healed. There are two distinct patterns of chorioretinal involvement in CMV retinitis. SD-OCT is a useful tool in the diagnosis, management, and prediction of the outcome of CMV retinitis.

Use of ultra-wide-field retinal imaging in the management of active Behçet retinal vasculitis.

PubMed

Mesquida, Marina; Llorenç, Victor; Fontenla, José Ramón; Navarro, Manuel Javier; Adán, Alfredo

2014-10-01

Retinal vasculitis (RV) is an important component of Behçet disease. It may be difficult to detect either clinically or with conventional retinal imaging. The role of ultra-wide-field (UWF) retinal imaging was assessed in the diagnosis and management of RV associated with Behçet disease. A total of 38 eyes of 20 patients with active RV associated to Behçet disease underwent UWF imaging with the Optos scanning laser ophthalmoscope, fundus autofluorescence, and/or fluorescein angiography. This study determined the UWF findings and percentage of patients in whom this imaging modality assisted in diagnosing the extent of vasculitis, planning treatment, and monitoring disease activity. Optos UWF imaging assisted in diagnosing and quantifying the extent of RV in 16 patients (80%), planning medical treatment or laser photocoagulation in 13 of 20 patients (65%), and enhanced disease monitoring in 11 of 20 patients (55%). UWF fluorescein angiography revealed vasculitis not clinically evident in 28 of 33 eyes (84.8%). Predominant angiographic findings were diffuse vascular leakage (75.7%), peripheral retinal nonperfusion (66.7%), optic disk leakage (63.6%), macular leakage (30.3%), and macular edema (27.3%). Eighteen patients (34 eyes) underwent UWF fundus autofluorescence, showing multiple hyperfluorescent spots in retinal periphery in 28 eyes (82.3%). Ultra-wide-field imaging is a valuable tool in the management of patients with RV associated to Behçet disease and can be used for the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. Additional studies, including longitudinal evaluations, are needed to elucidate whether these findings or the subsequent management alterations may improve patients' outcomes.

Reliability and Agreement Between Metrics of Cone Spacing in Adaptive Optics Images of the Human Retinal Photoreceptor Mosaic.

PubMed

Giannini, Daniela; Lombardo, Giuseppe; Mariotti, Letizia; Devaney, Nicholas; Serrao, Sebastiano; Lombardo, Marco

2017-06-01

To assess reliability and agreement among three metrics used to evaluate the distribution of cell distances in adaptive optics (AO) images of the cone mosaic. Using an AO flood illumination retinal camera, we acquired images of the cone mosaic in 20 healthy subjects and 12 patients with retinal diseases. The three spacing metrics studied were the center-to-center spacing (Scc), the local cone spacing (LCS), and the density recovery profile distance (DRPD). Each metric was calculated in sampling areas of different sizes (64 × 64 μm and 204 × 204 μm) across the parafovea. Both Scc and LCS were able to discriminate between healthy subjects and patients with retinal diseases; DRPD did not reliably detect any abnormality in the distribution of cell distances in patients with retinal diseases. The agreement between Scc and LCS was high in healthy subjects (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] ≥ 0.79) and moderate in patients with retinal diseases (ICC ≤ 0.51). The DRPD had poor agreement with Scc (ICC ≤ 0.47) and LCS (ICC ≤ 0.37). The correlation between the spacing metrics of the two sampling areas was greater in healthy subjects than in patients with retinal diseases. The Scc and LCS provided interchangeable estimates of cone distance in AO retinal images of healthy subjects but could not be used interchangeably when investigating retinal diseases with significant cell reflectivity loss (≥30%). The DRPD was unreliable for describing cell distance in a human retinal cone mosaic and did not correlate with Scc and LCS. Caution is needed when comparing spacing metrics evaluated in sampling areas of different sizes.

Retinal blood flow during hyperoxia in humans revisited: concerted results using different measurement techniques.

PubMed

Kiss, Barbara; Polska, Elzbieta; Dorner, Guido; Polak, Kaija; Findl, Oliver; Mayrl, Gabriele Fuchsjäger; Eichler, Hans-Georg; Wolzt, Michael; Schmetterer, Leopold

2002-07-01

Retinal vasculature shows pronounced vasoconstriction in response to hyperoxia, which appears to be related to the constant oxygen demand of the retina. However, the exact amount of blood flow reduction and the exact time course of this phenomenon are still a matter of debate. We set out to investigate the retinal response to hyperoxia using innovative techniques for the assessment of retinal hemodynamics. In a total of 48 healthy volunteers we studied the effect of 100% O(2) breathing on retinal blood flow using two methods. Red blood cell movement in larger retinal veins was quantified with combined laser Doppler velocimetry and retinal vessel size measurement. Retinal white blood cell movement was quantified with the blue field entoptic technique. The time course of retinal vasoconstriction in response to hyperoxia was assessed by continuous vessel size determination using the Zeiss retinal vessel analyzer. The response to hyperoxia as measured with combined laser Doppler velocimetry and vessel size measurement was almost twice as high as that observed with the blue field technique. Vasoconstriction in response to 100% O(2) breathing occurred within the first 5 min and no counterregulatory or adaptive mechanisms were observed. Based on these results we hypothesize that hyperoxia-induced vasoconstriction differentially affects red and white blood cell movement in the human retina. This hypothesis is based on the complex interactions between red and white blood cells in microcirculation, which have been described in detail for other vascular beds.

Investigation of alterations in multifractality in optical coherence tomographic images of in vivo human retina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, Nandan Kumar; Mukhopadhyay, Sabyasachi; Ghosh, Nirmalya; Chhablani, Jay; Richhariya, Ashutosh; Divakar Rao, Kompalli; Sahoo, Naba Kishore

2016-09-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) enables us to monitor alterations in the thickness of the retinal layer as disease progresses in the human retina. However, subtle morphological changes in the retinal layers due to early disease progression often may not lead to detectable alterations in the thickness. OCT images encode depth-dependent backscattered intensity distribution arising due to the depth distributions of the refractive index from tissue microstructures. Here, such depth-resolved refractive index variations of different retinal layers were analyzed using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis, a special class of multiresolution analysis tools. The analysis extracted and quantified microstructural multifractal information encoded in normal as well as diseased human retinal OCT images acquired in vivo. Interestingly, different layers of the retina exhibited different degrees of multifractality in a particular retina, and the individual layers displayed consistent multifractal trends in healthy retinas of different human subjects. In the retinal layers of diabetic macular edema (DME) subjects, the change in multifractality manifested prominently near the boundary of the DME as compared to the normal retinal layers. The demonstrated ability to quantify depth-resolved information on multifractality encoded in OCT images appears promising for the early diagnosis of diseases of the human eye, which may also prove useful for detecting other types of tissue abnormalities from OCT images.

Longitudinal Structural changes in Late-onset Retinal Degeneration

PubMed Central

Cukras, Catherine; Flamendorf, Jason; Wong, Wai T; Ayyagari, Radha; Cunningham, Denise; Sieving, Paul A.

2016-01-01

Purpose To characterize longitudinal structural changes in early stages of late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD) to investigate pathogenic mechanisms. Methods Two affected siblings, both with a S163R missense mutation in the causative gene C1QTNF5, were followed for 8+ years. Color fundus photos, fundus autofluorescence (FAF) images, near infrared reflectance (NIR-R) fundus images, and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) scans were acquired during follow-up. Results Both patients, aged 45 and 50 years, had good visual acuities (> 20/20 OU) in the context of prolonged dark adaptation. Baseline color fundus photography demonstrated yellow-white, punctate lesions in the temporal macula that correlated with a reticular pattern on FAF and NIR-R imaging. Baseline SD-OCT imaging revealed subretinal deposits that resemble reticular pseudodrusen (RPD) described in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). During follow-up, these affected areas developed confluent thickening of the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) layer and disruption of the ellipsoid zone of photoreceptors before progressing to overt RPE and outer retinal atrophy. Conclusions Structural changes in early stage L-ORD revealed by multimodal imaging resemble those of RPD observed in AMD and other retinal diseases. Longitudinal follow-up of these lesions helps elucidate their progression to frank atrophy and may lend insight into the pathogenic mechanisms underlying diverse retinal degenerations. PMID:27388725

Lens-based wavefront sensorless adaptive optics swept source OCT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jian, Yifan; Lee, Sujin; Ju, Myeong Jin; Heisler, Morgan; Ding, Weiguang; Zawadzki, Robert J.; Bonora, Stefano; Sarunic, Marinko V.

2016-06-01

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has revolutionized modern ophthalmology, providing depth resolved images of the retinal layers in a system that is suited to a clinical environment. Although the axial resolution of OCT system, which is a function of the light source bandwidth, is sufficient to resolve retinal features at a micrometer scale, the lateral resolution is dependent on the delivery optics and is limited by ocular aberrations. Through the combination of wavefront sensorless adaptive optics and the use of dual deformable transmissive optical elements, we present a compact lens-based OCT system at an imaging wavelength of 1060 nm for high resolution retinal imaging. We utilized a commercially available variable focal length lens to correct for a wide range of defocus commonly found in patient’s eyes, and a novel multi-actuator adaptive lens for aberration correction to achieve near diffraction limited imaging performance at the retina. With a parallel processing computational platform, high resolution cross-sectional and en face retinal image acquisition and display was performed in real time. In order to demonstrate the system functionality and clinical utility, we present images of the photoreceptor cone mosaic and other retinal layers acquired in vivo from research subjects.

Comparison of amplitude-decorrelation, speckle-variance and phase-variance OCT angiography methods for imaging the human retina and choroid

PubMed Central

Gorczynska, Iwona; Migacz, Justin V.; Zawadzki, Robert J.; Capps, Arlie G.; Werner, John S.

2016-01-01

We compared the performance of three OCT angiography (OCTA) methods: speckle variance, amplitude decorrelation and phase variance for imaging of the human retina and choroid. Two averaging methods, split spectrum and volume averaging, were compared to assess the quality of the OCTA vascular images. All data were acquired using a swept-source OCT system at 1040 nm central wavelength, operating at 100,000 A-scans/s. We performed a quantitative comparison using a contrast-to-noise (CNR) metric to assess the capability of the three methods to visualize the choriocapillaris layer. For evaluation of the static tissue noise suppression in OCTA images we proposed to calculate CNR between the photoreceptor/RPE complex and the choriocapillaris layer. Finally, we demonstrated that implementation of intensity-based OCT imaging and OCT angiography methods allows for visualization of retinal and choroidal vascular layers known from anatomic studies in retinal preparations. OCT projection imaging of data flattened to selected retinal layers was implemented to visualize retinal and choroidal vasculature. User guided vessel tracing was applied to segment the retinal vasculature. The results were visualized in a form of a skeletonized 3D model. PMID:27231598

Noninvasive Quantification of Retinal Microglia Using Widefield Autofluorescence Imaging.

PubMed

Kokona, Despina; Schneider, Nadia; Giannakaki-Zimmermann, Helena; Jovanovic, Joel; Ebneter, Andreas; Zinkernagel, Martin

2017-04-01

To validate widefield autofluorescence (AF) in vivo imaging of the retina in mice expressing green fluorescent protein (gfp) in microglia, and to monitor retinal microglia reconstitution in vivo after lethal irradiation and bone marrow transplantation. Transgenic Cx3cr1gfp/gfp and wildtype Balb/c mice were used in this study. A confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope was used for AF imaging with a 55° and a widefield 102° lens. Intrasession reproducibility was assessed for each lens. To investigate reconstitution in vivo, bone marrow from Cx3cr1gfp/gfp mice was used to rescue lethally irradiated wildtype mice. Data were compared to confocal microscopy of retinal flat mounts. Both the 55° and the 102° lens produced high resolution images of retinal microglia with similar microglia density. However, compared to the 55° lens, the widefield 102° lens captured approximately 3.6 times more microglia cells (1515 ± 123 cells versus 445 ± 76 cells [mean ± SD], for 102° and 55°, respectively, P < 0.001). No statistical difference in the number of gfp positive cells within corresponding areas was observed within the same imaging session. Imaging of microglia reconstitution showed a similar time course compared to flat mount preparations with an excellent correlation between microglia cell numbers in AF and gfp-stained flat mounts (R = 0.92, P < 0.0001). Widefield AF imaging of mice with gfp expressing microglia can be used to quantify retinal microglia. In vivo microglia counts corresponded very well with ex vivo counts on retinal flat mounts. As such, AF imaging can largely replace ex vivo quantification.

Technique of retinal gene therapy: delivery of viral vector into the subretinal space

PubMed Central

Xue, K; Groppe, M; Salvetti, A P; MacLaren, R E

2017-01-01

Purpose Safe and reproducible delivery of gene therapy vector into the subretinal space is essential for successful targeting of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors. The success of surgery is critical for the clinical efficacy of retinal gene therapy. Iatrogenic detachment of the degenerate (often adherent) retina in patients with hereditary retinal degenerations and small volume (eg, 0.1 ml) subretinal injections pose new surgical challenges. Methods Our subretinal gene therapy technique involved pre-operative planning with optical coherence tomography (OCT) and autofluorescence (AF) imaging, 23 G pars plana vitrectomy, internal limiting membrane staining with Membrane Blue Dual (DORC BV, Zuidland, Netherlands), a two-step subretinal injection using a 41 G Teflon tipped cannula (DORC) first with normal saline to create a parafoveal bleb followed by slow infusion of viral vector via the same self-sealing retinotomy. Surgical precision was further enhanced by intraoperative OCT (Zeiss Rescan 7000, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany). Foveal functional and structural recovery was evaluated using best-corrected Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) visual acuity, microperimetry and OCT. Results Two patients with choroideremia aged 29 (P1) and 27 (P2) years, who had normal and symmetrical levels of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in both eyes, underwent unilateral gene therapy with the fellow eye acting as internal control. The surgeries were uncomplicated in both cases with successful detachment of the macula by subretinal vector injection. Both treated eyes showed recovery of BCVA (P1: 76–77 letters; P2: 84–88 letters) and mean threshold sensitivity of the central macula (P1: 10.7–10.7 dB; P2: 14.2–14.1 dB) to baseline within a month. This was accompanied by normalisation of central retinal thickness on OCT. Conclusions Herein we describe a reliable technique for subretinal gene therapy, which is currently used in clinical trials to treat choroideremia using an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector encoding the CHM gene. Strategies to minimise potential complications, such as avoidance of excessive retinal stretch, air bubbles within the injection system, reflux of viral vector and post-operative vitritis are discussed. PMID:28820183

High resolution OCT image generation using super resolution via sparse representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asif, Muhammad; Akram, Muhammad Usman; Hassan, Taimur; Shaukat, Arslan; Waqar, Razi

2017-02-01

In this paper we propose a technique for obtaining a high resolution (HR) image from a single low resolution (LR) image -using joint learning dictionary - on the basis of image statistic research. It suggests that with an appropriate choice of an over-complete dictionary, image patches can be well represented as a sparse linear combination. Medical imaging for clinical analysis and medical intervention is being used for creating visual representations of the interior of a body, as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues (physiology). A number of medical imaging techniques are in use like MRI, CT scan, X-rays and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). OCT is one of the new technologies in medical imaging and one of its uses is in ophthalmology where it is being used for analysis of the choroidal thickness in the eyes in healthy and disease states such as age-related macular degeneration, central serous chorioretinopathy, diabetic retinopathy and inherited retinal dystrophies. We have proposed a technique for enhancing the OCT images which can be used for clearly identifying and analyzing the particular diseases. Our method uses dictionary learning technique for generating a high resolution image from a single input LR image. We train two joint dictionaries, one with OCT images and the second with multiple different natural images, and compare the results with previous SR technique. Proposed method for both dictionaries produces HR images which are comparatively superior in quality with the other proposed method of SR. Proposed technique is very effective for noisy OCT images and produces up-sampled and enhanced OCT images.

Volumetric image classification using homogeneous decomposition and dictionary learning: A study using retinal optical coherence tomography for detecting age-related macular degeneration.

PubMed

Albarrak, Abdulrahman; Coenen, Frans; Zheng, Yalin

2017-01-01

Three-dimensional (3D) (volumetric) diagnostic imaging techniques are indispensable with respect to the diagnosis and management of many medical conditions. However there is a lack of automated diagnosis techniques to facilitate such 3D image analysis (although some support tools do exist). This paper proposes a novel framework for volumetric medical image classification founded on homogeneous decomposition and dictionary learning. In the proposed framework each image (volume) is recursively decomposed until homogeneous regions are arrived at. Each region is represented using a Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) which is transformed into a set of feature vectors. The Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is then used to generate a "dictionary" and the Improved Fisher Kernel (IFK) approach is used to encode feature vectors so as to generate a single feature vector for each volume, which can then be fed into a classifier generator. The principal advantage offered by the framework is that it does not require the detection (segmentation) of specific objects within the input data. The nature of the framework is fully described. A wide range of experiments was conducted with which to analyse the operation of the proposed framework and these are also reported fully in the paper. Although the proposed approach is generally applicable to 3D volumetric images, the focus for the work is 3D retinal Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images in the context of the diagnosis of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). The results indicate that excellent diagnostic predictions can be produced using the proposed framework. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging in optic disk pit associated with outer retinal dehiscence

PubMed Central

Wong, Chee Wai; Wong, Doric; Mathur, Ranjana

2014-01-01

A 37-year-old Bangladeshi male presented with an inferotemporal optic disk pit and serous macular detachment in the left eye. Imaging with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) revealed a multilayer macular schisis pattern with a small subfoveal outer retinal dehiscence. This case illustrates a rare phenotype of optic disk maculopathy with macular schisis and a small outer retinal layer dehiscence. Spectral domain OCT was a useful adjunct in delineating the retinal layers in optic disk pit maculopathy, and revealed a small area of outer retinal layer dehiscence that could only have been detected on high-resolution OCT. PMID:25349471

Ex vivo electroporation of retinal cells: a novel, high efficiency method for functional studies in primary retinal cultures

PubMed Central

Vergara, Maria Natalia; Gutierrez, Christian; O’Brien, David R.; Canto-Soler, Maria Valeria

2013-01-01

Primary retinal cultures constitute valuable tools not only for basic research on retinal cell development and physiology, but also for the identification of factors or drugs that promote cell survival and differentiation. In order to take full advantage of the benefits of this system it is imperative to develop efficient and reliable techniques for the manipulation of gene expression. However, achieving appropriate transfection efficiencies in these cultures has remained challenging. The purpose of this work was to develop and optimize a technique that would allow the transfection of chick retinal cells with high efficiency and reproducibility for multiple applications. We developed an ex vivo electroporation method applied to dissociated retinal cell cultures that offers a significant improvement over other currently available transfection techniques, increasing efficiency by five-fold. In this method, eyes were enucleated, devoid of RPE, and electroporated with GFP-encoding plasmids using custom-made electrodes. Electroporated retinas were then dissociated into single cells and plated in low density conditions, to be analyzed after 4 days of incubation. Parameters such as voltage and number of electric pulses, as well as plasmid concentration and developmental stage of the animal were optimized for efficiency. The characteristics of the cultures were assessed by morphology and immunocytochemistry, and cell viability was determined by ethidium homodimer staining. Cell imaging and counting was performed using an automated high-throughput system. This procedure resulted in transfection efficiencies in the order of 22–25 % of cultured cells, encompassing both photoreceptors and non-photoreceptor neurons, and without affecting normal cell survival and differentiation. Finally, the feasibility of the technique for cell-autonomous studies of gene function in a biologically relevant context was tested by carrying out gain and loss-of-function experiments for the transcription factor PAX6. Electroporation of a plasmid construct expressing PAX6 resulted in a marked upregulation in the expression levels of this protein that could be measured in the whole culture as well as cell-intrinsically. This was accompanied by a significant decrease in the percentage of cells differentiating as photoreceptors among the transfected population. Conversely, electroporation of an RNAi construct targeting PAX6 resulted in a significant decrease in the levels of this protein, with a concomitant increase in the proportion of photoreceptors. Taken together these results provide strong proof-of-principle of the suitability of this technique for genetic studies in retinal cultures. The combination of the high transfection efficiency obtained by this method with automated high-throughput cell analysis supplies the scientific community with a powerful system for performing functional studies in a cell-autonomous manner. PMID:23370269

Ex vivo electroporation of retinal cells: a novel, high efficiency method for functional studies in primary retinal cultures.

PubMed

Vergara, M Natalia; Gutierrez, Christian; O'Brien, David R; Canto-Soler, M Valeria

2013-04-01

Primary retinal cultures constitute valuable tools not only for basic research on retinal cell development and physiology, but also for the identification of factors or drugs that promote cell survival and differentiation. In order to take full advantage of the benefits of this system it is imperative to develop efficient and reliable techniques for the manipulation of gene expression. However, achieving appropriate transfection efficiencies in these cultures has remained challenging. The purpose of this work was to develop and optimize a technique that would allow the transfection of chick retinal cells with high efficiency and reproducibility for multiple applications. We developed an ex vivo electroporation method applied to dissociated retinal cell cultures that offers a significant improvement over other currently available transfection techniques, increasing efficiency by five-fold. In this method, eyes were enucleated, devoid of RPE, and electroporated with GFP-encoding plasmids using custom-made electrodes. Electroporated retinas were then dissociated into single cells and plated in low density conditions, to be analyzed after 4 days of incubation. Parameters such as voltage and number of electric pulses, as well as plasmid concentration and developmental stage of the animal were optimized for efficiency. The characteristics of the cultures were assessed by morphology and immunocytochemistry, and cell viability was determined by ethidium homodimer staining. Cell imaging and counting was performed using an automated high-throughput system. This procedure resulted in transfection efficiencies in the order of 22-25% of cultured cells, encompassing both photoreceptors and non-photoreceptor neurons, and without affecting normal cell survival and differentiation. Finally, the feasibility of the technique for cell-autonomous studies of gene function in a biologically relevant context was tested by carrying out gain and loss-of-function experiments for the transcription factor PAX6. Electroporation of a plasmid construct expressing PAX6 resulted in a marked upregulation in the expression levels of this protein that could be measured in the whole culture as well as cell-intrinsically. This was accompanied by a significant decrease in the percentage of cells differentiating as photoreceptors among the transfected population. Conversely, electroporation of an RNAi construct targeting PAX6 resulted in a significant decrease in the levels of this protein, with a concomitant increase in the proportion of photoreceptors. Taken together these results provide strong proof-of-principle of the suitability of this technique for genetic studies in retinal cultures. The combination of the high transfection efficiency obtained by this method with automated high-throughput cell analysis supplies the scientific community with a powerful system for performing functional studies in a cell-autonomous manner. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adaptive optics two-photon excited fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy of exogenous fluorophores in mice.

PubMed

Feeks, James A; Hunter, Jennifer J

2017-05-01

In vivo cellular scale fluorescence lifetime imaging of the mouse retina has the potential to be a sensitive marker of retinal cell health. In this study, we demonstrate fluorescence lifetime imaging of extrinsic fluorophores using adaptive optics fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (AOFLIO). We recorded AOFLIO images of inner retinal cells labeled with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and capillaries labeled with fluorescein. We demonstrate that AOFLIO can be used to differentiate spectrally overlapping fluorophores in the retina. With further refinements, AOFLIO could be used to assess retinal health in early stages of degeneration by utilizing lifetime-based sensors or even fluorophores native to the retina.

Structural analysis of retinal photoreceptor ellipsoid zone and postreceptor retinal layer associated with visual acuity in patients with retinitis pigmentosa by ganglion cell analysis combined with OCT imaging

PubMed Central

Liu, Guodong; Li, Hui; Liu, Xiaoqiang; Xu, Ding; Wang, Fang

2016-01-01

Abstract The aim of this study was to examine changes in photoreceptor ellipsoid zone (EZ) and postreceptor retinal layer in retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patients by ganglion cell analysis (GCA) combined with optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging to evaluate the structure–function relationships between retinal layer changes and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Sixty-eight eyes of 35 patients with RP and 65 eyes of 35 normal controls were analyzed in the study. The average length of EZ was 911.1 ± 208.8 μm in RP patients, which was shortened with the progression of the disease on the OCT images. The average ganglion cell–inner plexiform layer thickness (GCIPLT) was 54.7 ± 18.9 μm in RP patients, while in normal controls it was 85.6 ± 6.8 μm. The GCIPLT in all quarters became significantly thinner along with outer retinal thinning. There was a significantly positive correlation between BCVA and EZ (r = −0.7622, P < 0.001) and GCIPLT (r = −0.452, P < 0.001). Therefore, we assess the retinal layer changes from a new perspective in RP patients, which suggests that EZ and GCIPLT obtained by GCA combined with OCT imaging are the direct and valid indicators to diagnosis and predict the pathological process of RP. PMID:28033301

Retinal Oximetry Discovers Novel Biomarkers in Retinal and Brain Diseases.

PubMed

Stefánsson, Einar; Olafsdottir, Olof Birna; Einarsdottir, Anna Bryndis; Eliasdottir, Thorunn Scheving; Eysteinsson, Thor; Vehmeijer, Wouter; Vandewalle, Evelien; Bek, Toke; Hardarson, Sveinn Hakon

2017-05-01

Biomarkers for several eye and brain diseases are reviewed, where retinal oximetry may help confirm diagnosis or measure severity of disease. These include diabetic retinopathy, central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, and Alzheimer's disease. Retinal oximetry is based on spectrophotometric fundus imaging and measures oxygen saturation in retinal arterioles and venules in a noninvasive, quick, safe manner. Retinal oximetry detects changes in oxygen metabolism, including those that result from ischemia or atrophy. In diabetic retinopathy, venous oxygen saturation increases and arteriovenous difference decreases. Both correlate with diabetic retinopathy severity as conventionally classified on fundus photographs. In CRVO, vein occlusion causes hypoxia, which is measured directly by retinal oximetry to confirm the diagnosis and measure severity. In both diseases, the change in oxygen levels is a consequence of disturbed blood flow with resulting tissue hypoxia and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production. In atrophic diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa and glaucoma, retinal oxygen consumption is reduced and this is detected by retinal oximetry. Retinal oximetry correlates with visual field damage and retinal atrophy. It is an objective metabolic measure of the degree of retinal atrophy. Finally, the retina is part of the central nervous system tissue and reflects central nervous system diseases. In Alzheimer's disease, a change in retinal oxygen metabolism has been discovered. Retinal oximetry is a novel, noninvasive technology that opens the field of metabolic imaging of the retina. Biomarkers in metabolic, ischemic, and atrophic diseases of the retina and central nervous system have been discovered.

A novel method for retinal optic disc detection using bat meta-heuristic algorithm.

PubMed

Abdullah, Ahmad S; Özok, Yasa Ekşioğlu; Rahebi, Javad

2018-05-09

Normally, the optic disc detection of retinal images is useful during the treatment of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. In this paper, the novel preprocessing of a retinal image with a bat algorithm (BA) optimization is proposed to detect the optic disc of the retinal image. As the optic disk is a bright area and the vessels that emerge from it are dark, these facts lead to the selected segments being regions with a great diversity of intensity, which does not usually happen in pathological regions. First, in the preprocessing stage, the image is fully converted into a gray image using a gray scale conversion, and then morphological operations are implemented in order to remove dark elements such as blood vessels, from the images. In the next stage, a bat algorithm (BA) is used to find the optimum threshold value for the optic disc location. In order to improve the accuracy and to obtain the best result for the segmented optic disc, the ellipse fitting approach was used in the last stage to enhance and smooth the segmented optic disc boundary region. The ellipse fitting is carried out using the least square distance approach. The efficiency of the proposed method was tested on six publicly available datasets, MESSIDOR, DRIVE, DIARETDB1, DIARETDB0, STARE, and DRIONS-DB. The optic disc segmentation average overlaps and accuracy was in the range of 78.5-88.2% and 96.6-99.91% in these six databases. The optic disk of the retinal images was segmented in less than 2.1 s per image. The use of the proposed method improved the optic disc segmentation results for healthy and pathological retinal images in a low computation time. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Blood vessel segmentation in modern wide-field retinal images in the presence of additive Gaussian noise.

PubMed

Asem, Morteza Modarresi; Oveisi, Iman Sheikh; Janbozorgi, Mona

2018-07-01

Retinal blood vessels indicate some serious health ramifications, such as cardiovascular disease and stroke. Thanks to modern imaging technology, high-resolution images provide detailed information to help analyze retinal vascular features before symptoms associated with such conditions fully develop. Additionally, these retinal images can be used by ophthalmologists to facilitate diagnosis and the procedures of eye surgery. A fuzzy noise reduction algorithm was employed to enhance color images corrupted by Gaussian noise. The present paper proposes employing a contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization to enhance illumination and increase the contrast of retinal images captured from state-of-the-art cameras. Possessing directional properties, the multistructure elements method can lead to high-performance edge detection. Therefore, multistructure elements-based morphology operators are used to detect high-quality image ridges. Following this detection, the irrelevant ridges, which are not part of the vessel tree, were removed by morphological operators by reconstruction, attempting also to keep the thin vessels preserved. A combined method of connected components analysis (CCA) in conjunction with a thresholding approach was further used to identify the ridges that correspond to vessels. The application of CCA can yield higher efficiency when it is locally applied rather than applied on the whole image. The significance of our work lies in the way in which several methods are effectively combined and the originality of the database employed, making this work unique in the literature. Computer simulation results in wide-field retinal images with up to a 200-deg field of view are a testimony of the efficacy of the proposed approach, with an accuracy of 0.9524.

A level-set method for pathology segmentation in fluorescein angiograms and en face retinal images of patients with age-related macular degeneration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammad, Fatimah; Ansari, Rashid; Shahidi, Mahnaz

2013-03-01

The visibility and continuity of the inner segment outer segment (ISOS) junction layer of the photoreceptors on spectral domain optical coherence tomography images is known to be related to visual acuity in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Automatic detection and segmentation of lesions and pathologies in retinal images is crucial for the screening, diagnosis, and follow-up of patients with retinal diseases. One of the challenges of using the classical level-set algorithms for segmentation involves the placement of the initial contour. Manually defining the contour or randomly placing it in the image may lead to segmentation of erroneous structures. It is important to be able to automatically define the contour by using information provided by image features. We explored a level-set method which is based on the classical Chan-Vese model and which utilizes image feature information for automatic contour placement for the segmentation of pathologies in fluorescein angiograms and en face retinal images of the ISOS layer. This was accomplished by exploiting a priori knowledge of the shape and intensity distribution allowing the use of projection profiles to detect the presence of pathologies that are characterized by intensity differences with surrounding areas in retinal images. We first tested our method by applying it to fluorescein angiograms. We then applied our method to en face retinal images of patients with AMD. The experimental results included demonstrate that the proposed method provided a quick and improved outcome as compared to the classical Chan-Vese method in which the initial contour is randomly placed, thus indicating the potential to provide a more accurate and detailed view of changes in pathologies due to disease progression and treatment.

Reconstruction 3-dimensional image from 2-dimensional image of status optical coherence tomography (OCT) for analysis of changes in retinal thickness

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arinilhaq,; Widita, Rena

2014-09-30

Optical Coherence Tomography is often used in medical image acquisition to diagnose that change due easy to use and low price. Unfortunately, this type of examination produces a two-dimensional retinal image of the point of acquisition. Therefore, this study developed a method that combines and reconstruct 2-dimensional retinal images into three-dimensional images to display volumetric macular accurately. The system is built with three main stages: data acquisition, data extraction and 3-dimensional reconstruction. At data acquisition step, Optical Coherence Tomography produced six *.jpg images of each patient were further extracted with MATLAB 2010a software into six one-dimensional arrays. The six arraysmore » are combined into a 3-dimensional matrix using a kriging interpolation method with SURFER9 resulting 3-dimensional graphics of macula. Finally, system provides three-dimensional color graphs based on the data distribution normal macula. The reconstruction system which has been designed produces three-dimensional images with size of 481 × 481 × h (retinal thickness) pixels.« less

Exploring Raman spectroscopy for the evaluation of glaucomatous retinal changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qi; Grozdanic, Sinisa D.; Harper, Matthew M.; Hamouche, Nicolas; Kecova, Helga; Lazic, Tatjana; Yu, Chenxu

2011-10-01

Glaucoma is a chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells and subsequent loss of visual function. Early detection of glaucoma is critical for the prevention of permanent structural damage and irreversible vision loss. Raman spectroscopy is a technique that provides rapid biochemical characterization of tissues in a nondestructive and noninvasive fashion. In this study, we explored the potential of using Raman spectroscopy for detection of glaucomatous changes in vitro. Raman spectroscopic imaging was conducted on retinal tissues of dogs with hereditary glaucoma and healthy control dogs. The Raman spectra were subjected to multivariate discriminant analysis with a support vector machine algorithm, and a classification model was developed to differentiate disease tissues versus healthy tissues. Spectroscopic analysis of 105 retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) from glaucomatous dogs and 267 RGCs from healthy dogs revealed spectroscopic markers that differentiated glaucomatous specimens from healthy controls. Furthermore, the multivariate discriminant model differentiated healthy samples and glaucomatous samples with good accuracy [healthy 89.5% and glaucomatous 97.6% for the same breed (Basset Hounds); and healthy 85.0% and glaucomatous 85.5% for different breeds (Beagles versus Basset Hounds)]. Raman spectroscopic screening can be used for in vitro detection of glaucomatous changes in retinal tissue with a high specificity.

Exploring Raman spectroscopy for the evaluation of glaucomatous retinal changes.

PubMed

Wang, Qi; Grozdanic, Sinisa D; Harper, Matthew M; Hamouche, Nicolas; Kecova, Helga; Lazic, Tatjana; Yu, Chenxu

2011-10-01

Glaucoma is a chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells and subsequent loss of visual function. Early detection of glaucoma is critical for the prevention of permanent structural damage and irreversible vision loss. Raman spectroscopy is a technique that provides rapid biochemical characterization of tissues in a nondestructive and noninvasive fashion. In this study, we explored the potential of using Raman spectroscopy for detection of glaucomatous changes in vitro. Raman spectroscopic imaging was conducted on retinal tissues of dogs with hereditary glaucoma and healthy control dogs. The Raman spectra were subjected to multivariate discriminant analysis with a support vector machine algorithm, and a classification model was developed to differentiate disease tissues versus healthy tissues. Spectroscopic analysis of 105 retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) from glaucomatous dogs and 267 RGCs from healthy dogs revealed spectroscopic markers that differentiated glaucomatous specimens from healthy controls. Furthermore, the multivariate discriminant model differentiated healthy samples and glaucomatous samples with good accuracy [healthy 89.5% and glaucomatous 97.6% for the same breed (Basset Hounds); and healthy 85.0% and glaucomatous 85.5% for different breeds (Beagles versus Basset Hounds)]. Raman spectroscopic screening can be used for in vitro detection of glaucomatous changes in retinal tissue with a high specificity.

GDx-MM: An imaging Mueller matrix retinal polarimeter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Twietmeyer, Karen Marie

2007-12-01

Retinal diseases are a major cause of blindness worldwide. Although widely studied, disease mechanisms are not completely understood, and diagnostic tests may not detect disease early enough for timely intervention. The goal of this research is to contribute to research for more sensitive diagnostic tests that might use the interaction of polarized light with retinal tissue to detect subtle changes in the microstructure. This dissertation describes the GDx-MM, a scanning laser polarimeter which measures a complete 16-element Mueller matrix image of the retina. This full polarization signature may provide new comparative information on the structure of healthy and diseased retinal tissue by highlighting depolarizing structures as well as structures with varying magnitudes and orientations of retardance and diattenuation. The three major components of this dissertation are: (1) Development of methods for polarimeter optimization and error analysis; (2) Design, optimization, assembly, calibration, and validation of the GDx-MM polarimeter; and (3) Analysis of data for several human subjects. Development involved modifications to a Laser Diagnostics GDx, a commercially available scanning laser ophthalmoscope with incomplete polarization capability. Modifications included installation of polarization components, development of a data acquisition system, and implementation of algorithms to convert raw data into polarization parameter images. Optimization involved visualization of polarimeter state trajectories on the Poincare sphere and a condition number analysis of the instrument matrix. Retinal images are collected non-invasively at 20 mum resolution over a 15° visual field in four seconds. Validation of the polarimeter demonstrates a polarimetric measurement accuracy of approximately +/- 5%. Retinal polarization data was collected on normal human subjects at the University of Arizona and at Indiana University School of Optometry. Calculated polarization parameter images reveal properties of the tissue microstructure. For example, retardance images indicate nerve fiber layer thickness and orientation, and depolarization images (uniform for these normal subjects), are predicted to indicate regions of disease-related tissue disruption. This research demonstrates a method for obtaining a full polarization signature of the retina in one measurement using a polarimetrically optimized instrument, and provides a step toward the use of complete retinal imaging polarimetry in the diagnosis and monitoring of retinal disease.

IMAGE ENHANCEMENT FOR IMPAIRED VISION: THE CHALLENGE OF EVALUATION

PubMed Central

PELI, ELI; WOODS, RUSSELL L

2009-01-01

With the aging of the population, the prevalence of eye diseases and thus of vision impairment is increasing. The TV watching habits of people with vision impairments are comparable to normally sighted people1, however their vision loss prevents them from fully benefiting from this medium. For over 20 years we have been developing video image-enhancement techniques designed to assist people with visual impairments, particularly those due to central retinal vision loss. A major difficulty in this endeavor is the lack of evaluation techniques to assess and compare the effectiveness of various enhancement methods. This paper reviews our approaches to image enhancement and the results we have obtained, with special emphasis on the difficulties encountered in the evaluation of the benefits of enhancement and the solutions we have developed to date. PMID:20161188

Retinal vasculature classification using novel multifractal features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Y.; Ward, W. O. C.; Duan, Jinming; Auer, D. P.; Gowland, Penny; Bai, L.

2015-11-01

Retinal blood vessels have been implicated in a large number of diseases including diabetic retinopathy and cardiovascular diseases, which cause damages to retinal blood vessels. The availability of retinal vessel imaging provides an excellent opportunity for monitoring and diagnosis of retinal diseases, and automatic analysis of retinal vessels will help with the processes. However, state of the art vascular analysis methods such as counting the number of branches or measuring the curvature and diameter of individual vessels are unsuitable for the microvasculature. There has been published research using fractal analysis to calculate fractal dimensions of retinal blood vessels, but so far there has been no systematic research extracting discriminant features from retinal vessels for classifications. This paper introduces new methods for feature extraction from multifractal spectra of retinal vessels for classification. Two publicly available retinal vascular image databases are used for the experiments, and the proposed methods have produced accuracies of 85.5% and 77% for classification of healthy and diabetic retinal vasculatures. Experiments show that classification with multiple fractal features produces better rates compared with methods using a single fractal dimension value. In addition to this, experiments also show that classification accuracy can be affected by the accuracy of vessel segmentation algorithms.

Retinal Vasculitis

PubMed Central

Rosenbaum, James T.; Sibley, Cailin H.; Lin, Phoebe

2016-01-01

Purpose of review Ophthalmologists and rheumatologists frequently miscommunicate in consulting on patients with retinal vasculitis. This report seeks to establish a common understanding of the term, retinal vasculitis, and to review recent papers on this diagnosis. Recent findings 1) The genetic basis of some rare forms of retinal vascular disease have recently been described. Identified genes include CAPN5, TREX1, and TNFAIP3; 2) Behçet’s disease is a systemic illness that is very commonly associated with occlusive retinal vasculitis; 3) retinal imaging including fluorescein angiography and other newer imaging modalities has proven crucial to the identification and characterization of retinal vasculitis and its complications; 4) although monoclonal antibodies to IL-17A or IL-1 beta failed in trials for Behçet’s disease, antibodies to TNF alpha, either infliximab or adalimumab, have demonstrated consistent benefit in managing this disease. Interferon treatment and B cell depletion therapy via rituximab may be beneficial in certain types of retinal vasculitis. Summary Retinal vasculitis is an important entity for rheumatologists to understand. Retinal vasculitis associated with Behçet’s disease responds to monoclonal antibodies that neutralize TNF, but the many other forms of non-infectious retinal vasculitis may require alternate therapeutic management. PMID:26945335

Microscope-Integrated Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in the Operating Room in Young Children With Retinal Vascular Disease.

PubMed

Chen, Xi; Viehland, Christian; Carrasco-Zevallos, Oscar M; Keller, Brenton; Vajzovic, Lejla; Izatt, Joseph A; Toth, Cynthia A

2017-05-01

Intraoperative optical coherence tomography (OCT) has gained traction as an important adjunct for clinical decision making during vitreoretinal surgery, and OCT angiography (OCTA) has provided novel insights in clinical evaluation of retinal diseases. To date, these two technologies have not been applied in combination to evaluate retinal vascular disease in the operating suite. To conduct microscope-integrated, swept-source OCTA (MIOCTA) in children with retinal vascular disease. In this case report analysis, OCT imaging in pediatric patients, MIOCTA images were obtained during examination under anesthesia from a young boy with a history of idiopathic vitreous hemorrhage and a female infant with familial exudative vitreoretinopathy. Side-by-side comparison of research MIOCT angiograms and clinically indicated fluorescein angiograms. In 2 young children with retinal vascular disease, the MIOCTA images showed more detailed vascular patterns than were visible on the fluorescein angiograms although within a more posterior field of view. The MIOCTA system allowed visualization of small pathological retinal vessels in the retinal periphery that were obscured in the fluorescein angiograms by fluorescein staining from underlying, preexisting laser scars. This is the first report to date of the use of MIOCTA in the operating room for young children with retinal vascular disease. Further optimization of this system may allow noninvasive detailed evaluation of retinal vasculature during surgical procedures and in patients who could not cooperate with in-office examinations.

Ultrahigh-speed ultrahigh-resolution adaptive optics: optical coherence tomography system for in-vivo small animal retinal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jian, Yifan; Xu, Jing; Zawadzki, Robert J.; Sarunic, Marinko V.

2013-03-01

Small animal models of human retinal diseases are a critical component of vision research. In this report, we present an ultrahigh-resolution ultrahigh-speed adaptive optics optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) system for small animal retinal imaging (mouse, fish, etc.). We adapted our imaging system to different types of small animals in accordance with the optical properties of their eyes. Results of AO-OCT images of small animal retinas acquired with AO correction are presented. Cellular structures including nerve fiber bundles, capillary networks and detailed double-cone photoreceptors are visualized.

Combined Central Retinal Vein and Branch Retinal Artery Occlusion Post Intense Physical Activity.

PubMed

Coca, Mircea; Tecle, Nahom; Amde, Wendewessen; Mehta, Ankur

2017-08-23

We report a case of combined central retinal vein occlusion and branch retinal artery occlusion. A previously healthy 47-year-old male presented with decreased vision in the right eye after completing a half marathon. A fundus exam and retinal imaging revealed a combined central retinal vein and branch retinal artery occlusion. In the present report, we review the literature and discuss the possible mechanisms behind combined retinal vessel occlusions. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of combined central retinal vein occlusion and branch retinal artery occlusion following intense exercise.

Combined Central Retinal Vein and Branch Retinal Artery Occlusion Post Intense Physical Activity

PubMed Central

Tecle, Nahom; Amde, Wendewessen; Mehta, Ankur

2017-01-01

We report a case of combined central retinal vein occlusion and branch retinal artery occlusion. A previously healthy 47-year-old male presented with decreased vision in the right eye after completing a half marathon. A fundus exam and retinal imaging revealed a combined central retinal vein and branch retinal artery occlusion. In the present report, we review the literature and discuss the possible mechanisms behind combined retinal vessel occlusions. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of combined central retinal vein occlusion and branch retinal artery occlusion following intense exercise. PMID:29067224

Adaptive optics retinal imaging: emerging clinical applications.

PubMed

Godara, Pooja; Dubis, Adam M; Roorda, Austin; Duncan, Jacque L; Carroll, Joseph

2010-12-01

The human retina is a uniquely accessible tissue. Tools like scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and spectral domain-optical coherence tomography provide clinicians with remarkably clear pictures of the living retina. Although the anterior optics of the eye permit such non-invasive visualization of the retina and associated pathology, the same optics induce significant aberrations that obviate cellular-resolution imaging in most cases. Adaptive optics (AO) imaging systems use active optical elements to compensate for aberrations in the optical path between the object and the camera. When applied to the human eye, AO allows direct visualization of individual rod and cone photoreceptor cells, retinal pigment epithelium cells, and white blood cells. AO imaging has changed the way vision scientists and ophthalmologists see the retina, helping to clarify our understanding of retinal structure, function, and the etiology of various retinal pathologies. Here, we review some of the advances that were made possible with AO imaging of the human retina and discuss applications and future prospects for clinical imaging.

Development of Extended-Depth Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography for Applications in Ophthalmic Imaging of the Anterior and Posterior Eye

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhalla, Al-Hafeez Zahir

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive optical imaging modality that provides micron-scale resolution of tissue micro-structure over depth ranges of several millimeters. This imaging technique has had a profound effect on the field of ophthalmology, wherein it has become the standard of care for the diagnosis of many retinal pathologies. Applications of OCT in the anterior eye, as well as for imaging of coronary arteries and the gastro-intestinal tract, have also shown promise, but have not yet achieved widespread clinical use. The usable imaging depth of OCT systems is most often limited by one of three factors: optical attenuation, inherent imaging range, or depth-of-focus. The first of these, optical attenuation, stems from the limitation that OCT only detects singly-scattered light. Thus, beyond a certain penetration depth into turbid media, essentially all of the incident light will have been multiply scattered, and can no longer be used for OCT imaging. For many applications (especially retinal imaging), optical attenuation is the most restrictive of the three imaging depth limitations. However, for some applications, especially anterior segment, cardiovascular (catheter-based) and GI (endoscopic) imaging, the usable imaging depth is often not limited by optical attenuation, but rather by the inherent imaging depth of the OCT systems. This inherent imaging depth, which is specific to only Fourier Domain OCT, arises due to two factors: sensitivity fall-off and the complex conjugate ambiguity. Finally, due to the trade-off between lateral resolution and axial depth-of-focus inherent in diffractive optical systems, additional depth limitations sometimes arises in either high lateral resolution or extended depth OCT imaging systems. The depth-of-focus limitation is most apparent in applications such as adaptive optics (AO-) OCT imaging of the retina, and extended depth imaging of the ocular anterior segment. In this dissertation, techniques for extending the imaging range of OCT systems are developed. These techniques include the use of a high spectral purity swept source laser in a full-field OCT system, as well as the use of a peculiar phenomenon known as coherence revival to resolve the complex conjugate ambiguity in swept source OCT. In addition, a technique for extending the depth of focus of OCT systems by using a polarization-encoded, dual-focus sample arm is demonstrated. Along the way, other related advances are also presented, including the development of techniques to reduce crosstalk and speckle artifacts in full-field OCT, and the use of fast optical switches to increase the imaging speed of certain low-duty cycle swept source OCT systems. Finally, the clinical utility of these techniques is demonstrated by combining them to demonstrate high-speed, high resolution, extended-depth imaging of both the anterior and posterior eye simultaneously and in vivo.

Morphometric analysis of small arteries in the human retina using adaptive optics imaging: relationship with blood pressure and focal vascular changes

PubMed Central

Koch, Edouard; Rosenbaum, David; Brolly, Aurélie; Sahel, José-Alain; Chaumet-Riffaud, Philippe; Girerd, Xavier; Rossant, Florence; Paques, Michel

2014-01-01

Objectives: The wall-to-lumen ratio (WLR) of retinal arteries is a recognized surrogate of end-organ damage due to aging and/or arterial hypertension. However, parietal morphometry remains difficult to assess in vivo. Recently, it was shown that adaptive optics retinal imaging can resolve parietal structures of retinal arterioles in humans in vivo. Here, using adaptive optics retinal imaging, we investigated the variations of parietal thickness of small retinal arteries with blood pressure and focal vascular damage. Methods: Adaptive optics imaging of the superotemporal retinal artery was done in 49 treatment-naive individuals [mean age (±SD) 44.9 years (±14); mean systolic pressure 132 mmHg (±22)]. Semi-automated segmentation allowed extracting parietal thickness and lumen diameter. In a distinct cohort, adaptive optics images of arteriovenous nicking (AVN; n = 12) and focal arteriolar narrowing (FAN; n = 10) were also analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Results: In the cohort of treatment-naive individuals, by multiple regression taking into account age, body mass index, mean, systolic, diastolic and pulse blood pressure, the WLR was found positively correlated to mean blood pressure and age which in combination accounted for 43% of the variability of WLR. In the cohort of patients with focal vascular damage, neither FANs or AVNs showed evidence of parietal growth; instead, at sites of FANs, decreased outer diameter suggestive of vasoconstriction was consistently found, while at sites of AVNs venous narrowing could be seen in the absence of arteriovenous contact. Conclusion: High resolution imaging of retinal vessels by adaptive optics allows quantitative microvascular phenotyping, which may contribute to a better understanding and management of hypertensive retinopathy. PMID:24406779

In vivo imaging of microscopic structures in the rat retina

PubMed Central

Geng, Ying; Greenberg, Kenneth P.; Wolfe, Robert; Gray, Daniel C.; Hunter, Jennifer J.; Dubra, Alfredo; Flannery, John G.; Williams, David R.; Porter, Jason

2010-01-01

Purpose The ability to resolve single retinal cells in rodents in vivo has applications in rodent models of the visual system and retinal disease. We have characterized the performance of a fluorescence adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (fAOSLO) that provides cellular and subcellular imaging of rat retina in vivo. Methods Green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was expressed in retinal ganglion cells of normal Sprague Dawley rats via intravitreal injections of adeno-associated viral vectors. Simultaneous reflectance and fluorescence retinal images were acquired using the fAOSLO. fAOSLO resolution was characterized by comparing in vivo images with subsequent imaging of retinal sections from the same eyes using confocal microscopy. Results Retinal capillaries and eGFP-labeled ganglion cell bodies, dendrites, and axons were clearly resolved in vivo with adaptive optics (AO). AO correction reduced the total root mean square wavefront error, on average, from 0.30 μm to 0.05 μm (1.7-mm pupil). The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the average in vivo line-spread function (LSF) was ∼1.84 μm, approximately 82% greater than the FWHM of the diffraction-limited LSF. Conclusions With perfect aberration compensation, the in vivo resolution in the rat eye could be ∼2× greater than that in the human eye due to its large numerical aperture (∼0.43). While the fAOSLO corrects a substantial fraction of the rat eye's aberrations, direct measurements of retinal image quality reveal some blur beyond that expected from diffraction. Nonetheless, subcellular features can be resolved, offering promise for using AO to investigate the rodent eye in vivo with high resolution. PMID:19578019

Morphometric analysis of small arteries in the human retina using adaptive optics imaging: relationship with blood pressure and focal vascular changes.

PubMed

Koch, Edouard; Rosenbaum, David; Brolly, Aurélie; Sahel, José-Alain; Chaumet-Riffaud, Philippe; Girerd, Xavier; Rossant, Florence; Paques, Michel

2014-04-01

The wall-to-lumen ratio (WLR) of retinal arteries is a recognized surrogate of end-organ damage due to aging and/or arterial hypertension. However, parietal morphometry remains difficult to assess in vivo. Recently, it was shown that adaptive optics retinal imaging can resolve parietal structures of retinal arterioles in humans in vivo. Here, using adaptive optics retinal imaging, we investigated the variations of parietal thickness of small retinal arteries with blood pressure and focal vascular damage. Adaptive optics imaging of the superotemporal retinal artery was done in 49 treatment-naive individuals [mean age (±SD) 44.9 years (±14); mean systolic pressure 132  mmHg (±22)]. Semi-automated segmentation allowed extracting parietal thickness and lumen diameter. In a distinct cohort, adaptive optics images of arteriovenous nicking (AVN; n = 12) and focal arteriolar narrowing (FAN; n = 10) were also analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. In the cohort of treatment-naive individuals, by multiple regression taking into account age, body mass index, mean, systolic, diastolic and pulse blood pressure, the WLR was found positively correlated to mean blood pressure and age which in combination accounted for 43% of the variability of WLR. In the cohort of patients with focal vascular damage, neither FANs or AVNs showed evidence of parietal growth; instead, at sites of FANs, decreased outer diameter suggestive of vasoconstriction was consistently found, while at sites of AVNs venous narrowing could be seen in the absence of arteriovenous contact. High resolution imaging of retinal vessels by adaptive optics allows quantitative microvascular phenotyping, which may contribute to a better understanding and management of hypertensive retinopathy.

NOVEL PRERETINAL HAIR PIN-LIKE VESSEL IN RETINAL ASTROCYTIC HAMARTOMA WITH VITREOUS HEMORRHAGE.

PubMed

Soeta, Megumi; Arai, Yusuke; Takahashi, Hidenori; Fujino, Yujiro; Tanabe, Tatsuro; Inoue, Yuji; Kawashima, Hidetoshi

2018-01-01

To report a case of retinal astrocytic hamartoma with vitreous hemorrhage and a hair pin-like vessel adhering to a posterior vitreous membrane. A 33-year-old man with a retinal astrocytic hamartoma presented with vitreous hemorrhage 5 times. Multimodal imaging, including fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, optical coherence tomography, and B-mode ultrasonography. Multimodal imaging demonstrated a novel hair pin-like vessel that adhered to the posterior vitreous membrane. Some cases of retinal astrocytic hamartoma with vitreous hemorrhage may be related to structure abnormalities of tumor vessels.

Retinal vascular imaging in early life: insights into processes and risk of cardiovascular disease

PubMed Central

Li, Ling‐Jun; Ikram, Mohammad Kamran

2015-01-01

Abstract Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. In recent years, studies have shown that the origins of CVD may be traced to vascular and metabolic processes in early life. Retinal vascular imaging is a new technology that allows detailed non‐invasive in vivo assessment and monitoring of the microvasculature. In this systematic review, we described the application of retinal vascular imaging in children and adolescents, and we examined the use of retinal vascular imaging in understanding CVD risk in early life. We reviewed all publications with quantitative retinal vascular assessment in two databases: PubMed and Scopus. Early life CVD risk factors were classified into four groups: birth risk factors, environmental risk factors, systemic risk factors and conditions linked to future CVD development. Retinal vascular changes were associated with lower birth weight, shorter gestational age, low‐fibre and high‐sugar diet, lesser physical activity, parental hypertension history, childhood hypertension, childhood overweight/obesity, childhood depression/anxiety and childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus. In summary, there is increasing evidence supporting the view that structural changes in the retinal microvasculature are associated with CVD risk factors in early life. Thus, the retina is a useful site for pre‐clinical assessment of microvascular processes that may underlie the future development of CVD in adulthood. PMID:26435039

Blood flow velocity in monocular retinoblastoma assessed by color doppler

PubMed Central

Bonanomi, Maria Teresa B C; Saito, Osmar C; de Lima, Patricia Picciarelli; Bonanomi, Roberta Chizzotti; Chammas, Maria Cristina

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the flow of retrobulbar vessels in retinoblastoma by color Doppler imaging. METHODS: A prospective study of monocular retinoblastoma treated by enucleation between 2010 and 2014. The examination comprised fundoscopy, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasonography and color Doppler imaging. The peak blood velocities in the central retinal artery and central retinal vein of tumor-containing eyes (tuCRAv and tuCRVv, respectively) were assessed. The velocities were compared with those for normal eyes (nlCRAv and nlCRVv) and correlated with clinical and pathological findings. Tumor dimensions in the pathological sections were compared with those in magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography and were correlated with tuCRAv and tuCRVv. In tumor-containing eyes, the resistivity index in the central retinal artery and the pulse index in the central retinal vein were studied in relation to all variables. RESULTS: Eighteen patients were included. Comparisons between tuCRAv and nlCRAv and between tuCRVv and nlCRVv revealed higher velocities in tumor-containing eyes (p<0.001 for both), with a greater effect in the central retinal artery than in the central retinal vein (p=0.024). Magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography measurements were as reliable as pathology assessments (p=0.675 and p=0.375, respectively). A positive relationship was found between tuCRAv and the tumor volume (p=0.027). The pulse index in the central retinal vein was lower in male patients (p=0.017) and in eyes with optic nerve invasion (p=0.0088). CONCLUSIONS: TuCRAv and tuCRVv are higher in tumor-containing eyes than in normal eyes. Magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography measurements are reliable. The tumor volume is correlated with a higher tuCRAv and a reduced pulse in the central retinal vein is correlated with male sex and optic nerve invasion. PMID:26735219

Automated feature extraction in color retinal images by a model based approach.

PubMed

Li, Huiqi; Chutatape, Opas

2004-02-01

Color retinal photography is an important tool to detect the evidence of various eye diseases. Novel methods to extract the main features in color retinal images have been developed in this paper. Principal component analysis is employed to locate optic disk; A modified active shape model is proposed in the shape detection of optic disk; A fundus coordinate system is established to provide a better description of the features in the retinal images; An approach to detect exudates by the combined region growing and edge detection is proposed. The success rates of disk localization, disk boundary detection, and fovea localization are 99%, 94%, and 100%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of exudate detection are 100% and 71%, correspondingly. The success of the proposed algorithms can be attributed to the utilization of the model-based methods. The detection and analysis could be applied to automatic mass screening and diagnosis of the retinal diseases.

Optical Coherence Tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, David

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new method for noninvasive cross-sectional imaging in biological systems. In OCT, the longitudinal locations of tissue structures are determined by measuring the time-of-flight delays of light backscattered from these structures. The optical delays are measured by low coherence interferometry. Information on lateral position is provided by transverse scanning of the probe beam. The two dimensional map of optical scattering from internal tissue microstructures is then represented in a false-color or grayscale image. OCT is the optical analog of ultrasonic pulse-echo imaging, but with greatly improved spatial resolutions (a few microns). This thesis describes the development of this new high resolution tomographic imaging technology and the demonstration of its use in a variety of tissues under both in vitro and in vivo conditions. In vitro OCT ranging and imaging studies were performed using human ocular and arterial tissues, two clinically relevant examples of transparent and turbid media, respectively. In the anterior eye, precise measurements of cornea and anterior chamber dimensions were made. In the arterial specimens, the differentiation between fatty -calcified and fibromuscular tissues was demonstrated. In vivo OCT imaging in the retina and optic nerve head in human subjects was also performed. The delineation of retinal layers, which has not been possible with other noninvasive imaging techniques, is demonstrated in these OCT images. OCT has high spatial resolution but limited penetration into turbid tissue. It has potential for diagnostic applications where high resolution is needed and optical access is available, such as in the eye, skin, surgically exposed tissues, and surfaces that can be reached by various catheters and endoscopic probes. In particular, the measurement of fine retinal structures promises improvements in the diagnosis and management of glaucoma, macular edema and other vitreo-retinal diseases. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253 -1690.).

Telemedicine-based digital retinal imaging vs standard ophthalmologic evaluation for the assessment of diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed

Li, Zhijian; Wu, Chengqing; Olayiwola, J Nwando; Hilaire, Daniel St; Huang, John J

2012-02-01

To study the cost benefit analysis of using a telemedicine-based digital retinal imaging evaluation compared to conventional ophthalmologic fundus examination of diabetic patients for diabetic retinopathy. In this study, diabetic patients from Community Health Center, Inc. (CHCI), a large multi-site Federally Qualified Health Center) were evaluated by teleophthalmology using the Canon CR-1 nonmydriatic fundus camera. Digital images were acquired in the CHCI offices and saved on the EyePACS server network. The images were later evaluated by retinal specialists at the Yale Eye Center, Yale University Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science. The costs for the standard of care ophthalmic examinations were calculated based on 2009 Medicaid reimbursement rates. The process of telemedicine-based diagnosis was based on a take-store-forward-visualize system. The cost of telemedicine-based digital retinal imaging examination included cost for devices, training, annual costs and a transportation fee. Current Medicaid reimbursement, transportation, and staff labor costs were used to calculate the conventional retinal examination cost as a comparison. Among the 611 patients digital retinal images screened in the first year of this program and for whom data are available, 166 (27.2%) cases of diabetic retinopathy were identified. Seventy-five (12.3%) patients screened positive with clinically significant disease and were referred for further ophthalmological evaluation and treatment. The primary direct cost of the telemedicine was $3.80, $15.00, $17.60, $1.50, and $2.50 per patient for medical assistant, ophthalmologist, capital cost (Equipment + Training), equipment maintenance, and transportation fee, respectively. The total cost in the telemedicine-based digital retinal imaging and evaluation was $40.40. The cost of conventional retinal examination was $8.70, $65.30, and $3.80 per patients for round-trip transportation, 2009 national Medicaid Physician Fee Schedule allowable for bilateral eye examination, and medical assistant personnel, respectively. The total costs of conventional fundus examination were $77.80. An additional conventional ophthalmologic retinal examination was required for 75 (12.3%) patients with clinically significant disease on telemedicine evaluation, which involves an averaged additional cost of $ 9.55 per patient for all the patients in the study. If the cost of subsequent examination was added, the total cost of telemedicine-based digital fundus imaging was $49.95 per patient in our group of 611 patients evaluated. Our cost analysis indicates that telemedicine-based diabetic retinopathy screening cost less ($49.95 vs $77.80) than conventional retinal examination and the telemedicine-based digital retinal imaging examination has the potential to provide an alternative method with greater convenience and access for the remote and indigent populations. Diabetes mellitus and diabetic retinopathy are growing problems in the United States and worldwide. Large scale adoption of telemedicine should be encouraged as a means toward providing improved access, increasing compliance with annual evaluation, at a low cost for patients with diabetes with direct access to an eye care specialist.

Holoentropy enabled-decision tree for automatic classification of diabetic retinopathy using retinal fundus images.

PubMed

Mane, Vijay Mahadeo; Jadhav, D V

2017-05-24

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common diabetic eye disease. Doctors are using various test methods to detect DR. But, the availability of test methods and requirements of domain experts pose a new challenge in the automatic detection of DR. In order to fulfill this objective, a variety of algorithms has been developed in the literature. In this paper, we propose a system consisting of a novel sparking process and a holoentropy-based decision tree for automatic classification of DR images to further improve the effectiveness. The sparking process algorithm is developed for automatic segmentation of blood vessels through the estimation of optimal threshold. The holoentropy enabled decision tree is newly developed for automatic classification of retinal images into normal or abnormal using hybrid features which preserve the disease-level patterns even more than the signal level of the feature. The effectiveness of the proposed system is analyzed using standard fundus image databases DIARETDB0 and DIARETDB1 for sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. The proposed system yields sensitivity, specificity and accuracy values of 96.72%, 97.01% and 96.45%, respectively. The experimental result reveals that the proposed technique outperforms the existing algorithms.

Association of Retinopathy and Retinal Microvascular Abnormalities With Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease.

PubMed

Hughes, Alun D; Falaschetti, Emanuela; Witt, Nicholas; Wijetunge, Sumangali; Thom, Simon A McG; Tillin, Therese; Aldington, Steve J; Chaturvedi, Nish

2016-11-01

Abnormalities of the retinal circulation may be associated with cerebrovascular disease. We investigated associations between retinal microvascular abnormalities and (1) strokes and subclinical cerebral infarcts and (2) cerebral white matter lesions in a UK-based triethnic population-based cohort. A total of 1185 participants (age, 68.8±6.1 years; 77% men) underwent retinal imaging and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging. Cerebral infarcts and white matter hyperintensities were identified on magnetic resonance imaging, retinopathy was graded, and retinal vessels were measured. Higher retinopathy grade (odds ratio [OR], 1.40 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.16-1.70]), narrower arteriolar diameter (OR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.97-0.99]), fewer symmetrical arteriolar bifurcations (OR, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.75-0.95]), higher arteriolar optimality deviation (OR, 1.16 [95% CI, 1.00-1.34]), and more tortuous venules (OR, 1.20 [95% CI, 1.09-1.32]) were associated with strokes/infarcts and white matter hyperintensities. Associations with quantitative retinal microvascular measures were independent of retinopathy. Abnormalities of the retinal microvasculature are independently associated with stroke, cerebral infarcts, and white matter lesions. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

Multimodal Imaging of Photoreceptor Structure in Choroideremia

PubMed Central

Johnson, Ryan D.; Williams, Vesper; Summerfelt, Phyllis; Dubra, Alfredo; Weinberg, David V.; Stepien, Kimberly E.; Fishman, Gerald A.; Carroll, Joseph

2016-01-01

Purpose Choroideremia is a progressive X-linked recessive dystrophy, characterized by degeneration of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), choroid, choriocapillaris, and photoreceptors. We examined photoreceptor structure in a series of subjects with choroideremia with particular attention to areas bordering atrophic lesions. Methods Twelve males with clinically-diagnosed choroideremia and confirmed hemizygous mutations in the CHM gene were examined. High-resolution images of the retina were obtained using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and both confocal and non-confocal split-detector adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) techniques. Results Eleven CHM gene mutations (3 novel) were identified; three subjects had the same mutation and one subject had two mutations. SD-OCT findings included interdigitation zone (IZ) attenuation or loss in 10/12 subjects, often in areas with intact ellipsoid zones; RPE thinning in all subjects; interlaminar bridges in the imaged areas of 10/12 subjects; and outer retinal tubulations (ORTs) in 10/12 subjects. Only split-detector AOSLO could reliably resolve cones near lesion borders, and such cones were abnormally heterogeneous in morphology, diameter and density. On split-detector imaging, the cone mosaic terminated sharply at lesion borders in 5/5 cases examined. Split-detector imaging detected remnant cone inner segments within ORTs, which were generally contiguous with a central patch of preserved retina. Conclusions Early IZ dropout and RPE thinning on SD-OCT are consistent with previously published results. Evidence of remnant cone inner segments within ORTs and the continuity of the ORTs with preserved retina suggests that these may represent an intermediate state of retinal degeneration prior to complete atrophy. Taken together, these results supports a model of choroideremia in which the RPE degenerates before photoreceptors. PMID:27936069

Multimodal Imaging of Photoreceptor Structure in Choroideremia.

PubMed

Sun, Lynn W; Johnson, Ryan D; Williams, Vesper; Summerfelt, Phyllis; Dubra, Alfredo; Weinberg, David V; Stepien, Kimberly E; Fishman, Gerald A; Carroll, Joseph

2016-01-01

Choroideremia is a progressive X-linked recessive dystrophy, characterized by degeneration of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), choroid, choriocapillaris, and photoreceptors. We examined photoreceptor structure in a series of subjects with choroideremia with particular attention to areas bordering atrophic lesions. Twelve males with clinically-diagnosed choroideremia and confirmed hemizygous mutations in the CHM gene were examined. High-resolution images of the retina were obtained using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and both confocal and non-confocal split-detector adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) techniques. Eleven CHM gene mutations (3 novel) were identified; three subjects had the same mutation and one subject had two mutations. SD-OCT findings included interdigitation zone (IZ) attenuation or loss in 10/12 subjects, often in areas with intact ellipsoid zones; RPE thinning in all subjects; interlaminar bridges in the imaged areas of 10/12 subjects; and outer retinal tubulations (ORTs) in 10/12 subjects. Only split-detector AOSLO could reliably resolve cones near lesion borders, and such cones were abnormally heterogeneous in morphology, diameter and density. On split-detector imaging, the cone mosaic terminated sharply at lesion borders in 5/5 cases examined. Split-detector imaging detected remnant cone inner segments within ORTs, which were generally contiguous with a central patch of preserved retina. Early IZ dropout and RPE thinning on SD-OCT are consistent with previously published results. Evidence of remnant cone inner segments within ORTs and the continuity of the ORTs with preserved retina suggests that these may represent an intermediate state of retinal degeneration prior to complete atrophy. Taken together, these results supports a model of choroideremia in which the RPE degenerates before photoreceptors.

Multimodal adaptive optics for depth-enhanced high-resolution ophthalmic imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammer, Daniel X.; Mujat, Mircea; Iftimia, Nicusor V.; Lue, Niyom; Ferguson, R. Daniel

2010-02-01

We developed a multimodal adaptive optics (AO) retinal imager for diagnosis of retinal diseases, including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The development represents the first ever high performance AO system constructed that combines AO-corrected scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) and swept source Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (SSOCT) imaging modes in a single compact clinical prototype platform. The SSOCT channel operates at a wavelength of 1 μm for increased penetration and visualization of the choriocapillaris and choroid, sites of major disease activity for DR and wet AMD. The system is designed to operate on a broad clinical population with a dual deformable mirror (DM) configuration that allows simultaneous low- and high-order aberration correction. The system also includes a wide field line scanning ophthalmoscope (LSO) for initial screening, target identification, and global orientation; an integrated retinal tracker (RT) to stabilize the SLO, OCT, and LSO imaging fields in the presence of rotational eye motion; and a high-resolution LCD-based fixation target for presentation to the subject of stimuli and other visual cues. The system was tested in a limited number of human subjects without retinal disease for performance optimization and validation. The system was able to resolve and quantify cone photoreceptors across the macula to within ~0.5 deg (~100-150 μm) of the fovea, image and delineate ten retinal layers, and penetrate to resolve targets deep into the choroid. In addition to instrument hardware development, analysis algorithms were developed for efficient information extraction from clinical imaging sessions, with functionality including automated image registration, photoreceptor counting, strip and montage stitching, and segmentation. The system provides clinicians and researchers with high-resolution, high performance adaptive optics imaging to help guide therapies, develop new drugs, and improve patient outcomes.

Adaptive optics fundus images of cone photoreceptors in the macula of patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

PubMed

Tojo, Naoki; Nakamura, Tomoko; Fuchizawa, Chiharu; Oiwake, Toshihiko; Hayashi, Atsushi

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine cone photoreceptors in the macula of patients with retinitis pigmentosa using an adaptive optics fundus camera and to investigate any correlations between cone photoreceptor density and findings on optical coherence tomography and fundus autofluorescence. We examined two patients with typical retinitis pigmentosa who underwent ophthalmological examination, including measurement of visual acuity, and gathering of electroretinographic, optical coherence tomographic, fundus autofluorescent, and adaptive optics fundus images. The cone photoreceptors in the adaptive optics images of the two patients with retinitis pigmentosa and five healthy subjects were analyzed. An abnormal parafoveal ring of high-density fundus autofluorescence was observed in the macula in both patients. The border of the ring corresponded to the border of the external limiting membrane and the inner segment and outer segment line in the optical coherence tomographic images. Cone photoreceptors at the abnormal parafoveal ring were blurred and decreased in the adaptive optics images. The blurred area corresponded to the abnormal parafoveal ring in the fundus autofluorescence images. Cone densities were low at the blurred areas and at the nasal and temporal retina along a line from the fovea compared with those of healthy controls. The results for cone spacing and Voronoi domains in the macula corresponded with those for the cone densities. Cone densities were heavily decreased in the macula, especially at the parafoveal ring on high-density fundus autofluorescence in both patients with retinitis pigmentosa. Adaptive optics images enabled us to observe in vivo changes in the cone photoreceptors of patients with retinitis pigmentosa, which corresponded to changes in the optical coherence tomographic and fundus autofluorescence images.

Decreased Retinal-Choroidal Blood Flow in Retinitis Pigmentosa as measured by MRI

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yi; Harrison, Joseph M; Nateras, Oscar San Emeterio; Chalfin, Steven; Duong, Timothy Q

2013-01-01

Purpose To evaluate retinal and choroidal blood flow (BF) using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as well as visual function measured by the electroretinogram (ERG) in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Methods MRI studies were performed in 6 RP patients (29-67 years) and 5 healthy volunteers (29-64 years) on a 3-Tesla scanner with a custom-made surface coil. Quantitative BF was measured using the pseudo-continuous arterial-spin-labeling technique at 0.5x0.8x6.0mm. Full-field ERGs of all patients were recorded. Amplitudes and implicit times of standard ERGs were analyzed. Results Basal BF in the posterior retinal-choroid was 142±16 ml/100ml/min (or 1.14±0.13 μl/mm2/min) in the control group and was 70±19 ml/100ml/min (or 0.56±0.15 μl/mm2/min) in the RP group. Retinal-choroidal BF was significantly reduced by 52±8% in RP patients compared to controls (P<0.05). ERG a- and b-wave amplitudes of RP patients were reduced and b-wave implicit times were delayed. There were statistically significant correlations between a-wave amplitude and BF value (r=0.9, P<0.05) but not between b-wave amplitude and BF value (r =0.7, P=0.2). Conclusions This study demonstrates a novel non-invasive MRI approach to measure quantitative retinal and choroidal BF in RP patients. We found that retinal-choroidal BF was markedly reduced and significantly correlated with reduced amplitudes of the a-wave of the standard combined ERG. PMID:23408312

Lesion detection in ultra-wide field retinal images for diabetic retinopathy diagnosis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levenkova, Anastasia; Sowmya, Arcot; Kalloniatis, Michael; Ly, Angelica; Ho, Arthur

2018-02-01

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) leads to irreversible vision loss. Diagnosis and staging of DR is usually based on the presence, number, location and type of retinal lesions. Ultra-wide field (UWF) digital scanning laser technology provides an opportunity for computer-aided DR lesion detection. High-resolution UWF images (3078×2702 pixels) may allow detection of more clinically relevant retinopathy in comparison with conventional retinal images as UWF imaging covers a 200° retinal area, versus 45° by conventional cameras. Current approaches to DR diagnosis that analyze 7-field Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) retinal images provide similar results to UWF imaging. However, in 40% of cases, more retinopathy was found outside the 7- field ETDRS fields by UWF and in 10% of cases, retinopathy was reclassified as more severe. The reason is that UWF images examine both the central retina and more peripheral regions. We propose an algorithm for automatic detection and classification of DR lesions such as cotton wool spots, exudates, microaneurysms and haemorrhages in UWF images. The algorithm uses convolutional neural network (CNN) as a feature extractor and classifies the feature vectors extracted from colour-composite UWF images using a support vector machine (SVM). The main contribution includes detection of four types of DR lesions in the peripheral retina for diagnostic purposes. The evaluation dataset contains 146 UWF images. The proposed method for detection of DR lesion subtypes in UWF images using two scenarios for transfer learning achieved AUC ≈ 80%. Data was split at the patient level to validate the proposed algorithm.

Comparison of retinal vessel measurements using adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Arichika, Shigeta; Uji, Akihito; Ooto, Sotaro; Muraoka, Yuki; Yoshimura, Nagahisa

2016-05-01

We compared adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) vessel caliber measurements. AOSLO videos were acquired from 28 volunteers with healthy eyes. Artery measurements were made 0.5-1 disc diameters away from the optic disc margin. Individual segmented retinal arterial caliber was measured in synchronization with cardiac pulsation and averaged to obtain final horizontal retinal arterial caliber (ACH) and horizontal retinal arterial lumen (ALH). All OCT images were obtained with the Spectralis OCT, a spectral-domain OCT system. Vertical retinal arterial caliber (ACV) and vertical retinal arterial lumen (ALV) were measured on the same artery measured with AOSLO. Measurements made with the two imaging systems were compared. Average ACH, measured with AOSLO, was 123.4 ± 11.2 and average ALH was 101.8 ± 10.2 µm. Average ACV, measured with OCT, was 125.5 ± 11.4 and average ALV was 99.1 ± 10.6 µm. Both arterial caliber (r = 0.767, p < 0.0001) and arterial lumen (r = 0.81, p < 0.0001) measurements were significantly correlated between imaging modalities. Additionally, ACH and ACV were not significantly different (p = 0.16). However, ALH measurements were significantly higher than ALV measurements (p = 0.03). Vessel measurements made with AOSLO and OCT were well correlated. Moreover, plasma is visible and distinguishable from the retinal vessel wall in AOSLO images but not in OCT images. Therefore, AOSLO may measure vessel width more precisely than OCT.

Adaptive optics two-photon excited fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy of exogenous fluorophores in mice

PubMed Central

Feeks, James A.; Hunter, Jennifer J.

2017-01-01

In vivo cellular scale fluorescence lifetime imaging of the mouse retina has the potential to be a sensitive marker of retinal cell health. In this study, we demonstrate fluorescence lifetime imaging of extrinsic fluorophores using adaptive optics fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (AOFLIO). We recorded AOFLIO images of inner retinal cells labeled with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and capillaries labeled with fluorescein. We demonstrate that AOFLIO can be used to differentiate spectrally overlapping fluorophores in the retina. With further refinements, AOFLIO could be used to assess retinal health in early stages of degeneration by utilizing lifetime-based sensors or even fluorophores native to the retina. PMID:28663886

Increased-resolution OCT thickness mapping of the human macula: a statistically based registration.

PubMed

Bernardes, Rui; Santos, Torcato; Cunha-Vaz, José

2008-05-01

To describe the development of a technique that enhances spatial resolution of retinal thickness maps of the Stratus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., Dublin, CA). A retinal thickness atlas (RT-atlas) template was calculated, and a macular coordinate system was established, to pursue this objective. The RT-atlas was developed from principal component analysis of retinal thickness analyzer (RTA) maps acquired from healthy volunteers. The Stratus OCT radial thickness measurements were registered on the RT-atlas, from which an improved macular thickness map was calculated. Thereafter, Stratus OCT circular scans were registered on the previously calculated map to enhance spatial resolution. The developed technique was applied to Stratus OCT thickness data from healthy volunteers and from patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) or age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Results showed that for normal, or close to normal, macular thickness maps from healthy volunteers and patients with DR, this technique can be an important aid in determining retinal thickness. Efforts are under way to improve the registration of retinal thickness data in patients with AMD. The developed technique enhances the evaluation of data acquired by the Stratus OCT, helping the detection of early retinal thickness abnormalities. Moreover, a normative database of retinal thickness measurements gained from this technique, as referenced to the macular coordinate system, can be created without errors induced by missed fixation and eye tilt.

Simultaneous multimodal ophthalmic imaging using swept-source spectrally encoded scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography

PubMed Central

Malone, Joseph D.; El-Haddad, Mohamed T.; Bozic, Ivan; Tye, Logan A.; Majeau, Lucas; Godbout, Nicolas; Rollins, Andrew M.; Boudoux, Caroline; Joos, Karen M.; Patel, Shriji N.; Tao, Yuankai K.

2016-01-01

Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) benefits diagnostic imaging and therapeutic guidance by allowing for high-speed en face imaging of retinal structures. When combined with optical coherence tomography (OCT), SLO enables real-time aiming and retinal tracking and provides complementary information for post-acquisition volumetric co-registration, bulk motion compensation, and averaging. However, multimodality SLO-OCT systems generally require dedicated light sources, scanners, relay optics, detectors, and additional digitization and synchronization electronics, which increase system complexity. Here, we present a multimodal ophthalmic imaging system using swept-source spectrally encoded scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography (SS-SESLO-OCT) for in vivo human retinal imaging. SESLO reduces the complexity of en face imaging systems by multiplexing spatial positions as a function of wavelength. SESLO image quality benefited from single-mode illumination and multimode collection through a prototype double-clad fiber coupler, which optimized scattered light throughput and reduce speckle contrast while maintaining lateral resolution. Using a shared 1060 nm swept-source, shared scanner and imaging optics, and a shared dual-channel high-speed digitizer, we acquired inherently co-registered en face retinal images and OCT cross-sections simultaneously at 200 frames-per-second. PMID:28101411

[Evaluation of fundus autofluorescence in hereditary retinal diseases using Heidelberg Retina Angiograph2].

PubMed

Côco, Monique; Baba, Natalia Tamie; Sallum, Juliana Maria Ferraz

2007-01-01

To define characteristics of the fundus autofluorescence examination, verifying usefulness in the diagnosis and care of hereditary retinal diseases. 28 patients, adults, divided equally into four groups with diagnoses of Stargardt macular dystrophy, cone dystrophy, retinitis pigmentosa and healthy volunteers for the establishment of the normality pattern. An average of nine images with the filter for fluorescein angiography was obtained for the formation of the image autofluorescence using Heidelberg Retina Angiograph2. The images of each group of patients were analyzed to verify common characteristics. The fundus autofluorescence of healthy volunteers showed the foveal area darker than the surrounding retina. The images of Stargardt macular dystrophy, in general, presented an oval central lesion, with reduced autofluorescence. The main alterations of the autofluorescence in patients with cone dystrophy were reduced foveal autofluorescence with a parafoveal ring of increased autofluorescence. In general, the images of retinitis pigmentosa showed outlying pigments with reduced autofluorescence, and of the foveal area, in some cases disorganization or reduced autofluorescence. The study showed the existence of patterns of fundus autofluorescence in the hereditary retinal diseases that allow the diagnosis and better interpretation of the pathogenesis of these diseases.

Real-time emulation of neural images in the outer retinal circuit.

PubMed

Hasegawa, Jun; Yagi, Tetsuya

2008-12-01

We describe a novel real-time system that emulates the architecture and functionality of the vertebrate retina. This system reconstructs the neural images formed by the retinal neurons in real time by using a combination of analog and digital systems consisting of a neuromorphic silicon retina chip, a field-programmable gate array, and a digital computer. While the silicon retina carries out the spatial filtering of input images instantaneously, using the embedded resistive networks that emulate the receptive field structure of the outer retinal neurons, the digital computer carries out the temporal filtering of the spatially filtered images to emulate the dynamical properties of the outer retinal circuits. The emulations of the neural image, including 128 x 128 bipolar cells, are carried out at a frame rate of 62.5 Hz. The emulation of the response to the Hermann grid and a spot of light and an annulus of lights has demonstrated that the system responds as expected by previous physiological and psychophysical observations. Furthermore, the emulated dynamics of neural images in response to natural scenes revealed the complex nature of retinal neuron activity. We have concluded that the system reflects the spatiotemporal responses of bipolar cells in the vertebrate retina. The proposed emulation system is expected to aid in understanding the visual computation in the retina and the brain.

Image analysis in modern ophthalmology: from acquisition to computer assisted diagnosis and telemedicine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marrugo, Andrés G.; Millán, María S.; Cristóbal, Gabriel; Gabarda, Salvador; Sorel, Michal; Sroubek, Filip

2012-06-01

Medical digital imaging has become a key element of modern health care procedures. It provides visual documentation and a permanent record for the patients, and most important the ability to extract information about many diseases. Modern ophthalmology thrives and develops on the advances in digital imaging and computing power. In this work we present an overview of recent image processing techniques proposed by the authors in the area of digital eye fundus photography. Our applications range from retinal image quality assessment to image restoration via blind deconvolution and visualization of structural changes in time between patient visits. All proposed within a framework for improving and assisting the medical practice and the forthcoming scenario of the information chain in telemedicine.

Effect of pharmacologically induced retinal degeneration on retinal autofluorescence lifetimes in mice.

PubMed

Dysli, Chantal; Dysli, Muriel; Zinkernagel, Martin S; Enzmann, Volker

2016-12-01

Fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (FLIO) was used to investigate retinal autofluorescence lifetimes in mouse models of pharmacologically induced retinal degeneration over time. Sodium iodate (NaIO 3 , 35 mg/kg intravenously) was used to induce retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) degeneration with subsequent loss of photoreceptors (PR) whereas N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU, 45 mg/kg intraperitoneally) was employed for degeneration of the photoreceptor cell layer alone. All mice were measured at day 3, 7, 14, and 28 after the respective injection of NaIO 3 , MNU or NaCl (control). Fluorescence lifetime imaging was performed using a fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscope (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). Fluorescence was excited at 473 nm and fluorescence lifetimes were measured in a short and a long spectral channel (498-560 nm and 560-720 nm). Corresponding optical coherence tomography (OCT) images were consecutively acquired and histology was performed at the end of the experiments. Segmentation of OCT images and histology verified the cell type-specific degeneration process over time. Retinal autofluorescence lifetimes increased from day 3 to day 28 in mice after NaIO 3 treatment. Finally, at day 28, fluorescence lifetimes were prolonged by 8% in the short and 61% in the long spectral channel compared to control animals (p = 0.21 and p = 0.004, respectively). In mice after MNU treatment, the mean retinal autofluorescence lifetimes were already decreased at day 3 and retinal lifetimes were finally shortened by 27% in the short and 51% in the long spectral channel at day 28 (p = 0.0028). In conclusion, degeneration of the RPE with subsequent photoreceptor degeneration by NaIO 3 lead to longer mean fluorescence lifetimes of the retina compared to control mice, whereas during specific degeneration of the photoreceptor layer induced by MNU shorter lifetimes were measured. Therefore, short retinal fluorescence lifetimes may originate from the RPE and may be modified by the overlaying retinal layers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of duration and severity of migraine on retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell layer, and choroidal thickness.

PubMed

Abdellatif, Mona K; Fouad, Mohamed M

2018-03-01

To investigate the factors in migraine that have the highest significance on retinal and choroidal layers' thickness. Ninety patients with migraine and 40 age-matched healthy participants were enrolled in this observational, cross-sectional study. After full ophthalmological examination, spectral domain-optical coherence tomography was done for all patients measuring the thickness of ganglion cell layer and retinal nerve fiber layer. Enhanced depth imaging technique was used to measure the choroidal thickness. There was significant thinning in the superior and inferior ganglion cell layers, all retinal nerve fiber layer quadrants, and all choroidal quadrants (except for the central subfield) in migraineurs compared to controls. The duration of migraine was significantly correlated with ganglion cell layer, retinal nerve fiber layer, and all choroidal quadrants, while the severity of migraine was significantly correlated with ganglion cell layer and retinal nerve fiber layer only. Multiregression analysis showed that the duration of migraine is the most important determinant factor of the superior retinal nerve fiber layer quadrant (β = -0.375, p = 0.001) and in all the choroidal quadrants (β = -0.531, -0.692, -0.503, -0.461, -0.564, respectively, p  < 0.001), while severity is the most important determinant factor of inferior, nasal, and temporal retinal nerve fiber layer quadrants (β = -0.256, -0.335, -0.308; p  = 0.036, 0.005, 0.009, respectively) and the inferior ganglion cell layer hemisphere (β = -0.377 and p = 0.001). Ganglion cell layer, retinal nerve fiber layer, and choroidal thickness are significantly thinner in patients with migraine. The severity of migraine has more significant influence in the thinning of ganglion cell layer and retinal nerve fiber layer, while the duration of the disease affected the choroidal thickness more.

The role of fundus autofluorescence in late-onset retinitis pigmentosa (LORP) diagnosis.

PubMed

Lee, Tamara J; Hwang, John C; Chen, Royce W S; Lima, Luiz H; Wang, Nan-Kai; Tosi, Joaquin; Freund, K Bailey; Yannuzzi, Lawrence A; Tsang, Stephen H

2014-09-01

To demonstrate the utility and characteristics of fundus autofluorescence in late-onset retinitis pigmentosa. Observational case series. Patients diagnosed with late-onset retinitis pigmentosa were identified retrospectively in an institutional setting. Twelve eyes of six patients were identified and medical records were reviewed. All patients presented with slowly progressive peripheral field loss and initial clinical examination revealed only subtle retinal changes. There was a notable lack of intraretinal pigment migration in all patients. Five out of six patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain to rule out intracranial processes and all were referred from another ophthalmologist for further evaluation. Fundus autofluorescence was ultimately employed in all patients and revealed more extensive retinal pathology than initially appreciated on clinical examination. Fundus autofluorescence directed the workup toward a retinal etiology in all cases and led to the eventual diagnosis of late-onset retinitis pigmentosa through electroretinogram testing. Fundus autofluorescence may be a more sensitive marker for retinal pathology than stereo fundus biomicroscopy alone in late-onset retinitis pigmentosa. Early use of fundus autofluorescence imaging in the evaluation of patients with subtle retinal lesions and complaints of peripheral field loss may be an effective strategy for timely and cost-efficient diagnosis.

Virtual Averaging Making Nonframe-Averaged Optical Coherence Tomography Images Comparable to Frame-Averaged Images.

PubMed

Chen, Chieh-Li; Ishikawa, Hiroshi; Wollstein, Gadi; Bilonick, Richard A; Kagemann, Larry; Schuman, Joel S

2016-01-01

Developing a novel image enhancement method so that nonframe-averaged optical coherence tomography (OCT) images become comparable to active eye-tracking frame-averaged OCT images. Twenty-one eyes of 21 healthy volunteers were scanned with noneye-tracking nonframe-averaged OCT device and active eye-tracking frame-averaged OCT device. Virtual averaging was applied to nonframe-averaged images with voxel resampling and adding amplitude deviation with 15-time repetitions. Signal-to-noise (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR), and the distance between the end of visible nasal retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and the foveola were assessed to evaluate the image enhancement effect and retinal layer visibility. Retinal thicknesses before and after processing were also measured. All virtual-averaged nonframe-averaged images showed notable improvement and clear resemblance to active eye-tracking frame-averaged images. Signal-to-noise and CNR were significantly improved (SNR: 30.5 vs. 47.6 dB, CNR: 4.4 vs. 6.4 dB, original versus processed, P < 0.0001, paired t -test). The distance between the end of visible nasal RNFL and the foveola was significantly different before (681.4 vs. 446.5 μm, Cirrus versus Spectralis, P < 0.0001) but not after processing (442.9 vs. 446.5 μm, P = 0.76). Sectoral macular total retinal and circumpapillary RNFL thicknesses showed systematic differences between Cirrus and Spectralis that became not significant after processing. The virtual averaging method successfully improved nontracking nonframe-averaged OCT image quality and made the images comparable to active eye-tracking frame-averaged OCT images. Virtual averaging may enable detailed retinal structure studies on images acquired using a mixture of nonframe-averaged and frame-averaged OCT devices without concerning about systematic differences in both qualitative and quantitative aspects.

Virtual Averaging Making Nonframe-Averaged Optical Coherence Tomography Images Comparable to Frame-Averaged Images

PubMed Central

Chen, Chieh-Li; Ishikawa, Hiroshi; Wollstein, Gadi; Bilonick, Richard A.; Kagemann, Larry; Schuman, Joel S.

2016-01-01

Purpose Developing a novel image enhancement method so that nonframe-averaged optical coherence tomography (OCT) images become comparable to active eye-tracking frame-averaged OCT images. Methods Twenty-one eyes of 21 healthy volunteers were scanned with noneye-tracking nonframe-averaged OCT device and active eye-tracking frame-averaged OCT device. Virtual averaging was applied to nonframe-averaged images with voxel resampling and adding amplitude deviation with 15-time repetitions. Signal-to-noise (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR), and the distance between the end of visible nasal retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and the foveola were assessed to evaluate the image enhancement effect and retinal layer visibility. Retinal thicknesses before and after processing were also measured. Results All virtual-averaged nonframe-averaged images showed notable improvement and clear resemblance to active eye-tracking frame-averaged images. Signal-to-noise and CNR were significantly improved (SNR: 30.5 vs. 47.6 dB, CNR: 4.4 vs. 6.4 dB, original versus processed, P < 0.0001, paired t-test). The distance between the end of visible nasal RNFL and the foveola was significantly different before (681.4 vs. 446.5 μm, Cirrus versus Spectralis, P < 0.0001) but not after processing (442.9 vs. 446.5 μm, P = 0.76). Sectoral macular total retinal and circumpapillary RNFL thicknesses showed systematic differences between Cirrus and Spectralis that became not significant after processing. Conclusion The virtual averaging method successfully improved nontracking nonframe-averaged OCT image quality and made the images comparable to active eye-tracking frame-averaged OCT images. Translational Relevance Virtual averaging may enable detailed retinal structure studies on images acquired using a mixture of nonframe-averaged and frame-averaged OCT devices without concerning about systematic differences in both qualitative and quantitative aspects. PMID:26835180

Integrated adaptive optics optical coherence tomography and adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope system for simultaneous cellular resolution in vivo retinal imaging

PubMed Central

Zawadzki, Robert J.; Jones, Steven M.; Pilli, Suman; Balderas-Mata, Sandra; Kim, Dae Yu; Olivier, Scot S.; Werner, John S.

2011-01-01

We describe an ultrahigh-resolution (UHR) retinal imaging system that combines adaptive optics Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) with an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AO-SLO) to allow simultaneous data acquisition by the two modalities. The AO-SLO subsystem was integrated into the previously described AO-UHR OCT instrument with minimal changes to the latter. This was done in order to ensure optimal performance and image quality of the AO- UHR OCT. In this design both imaging modalities share most of the optical components including a common AO-subsystem and vertical scanner. One of the benefits of combining Fd-OCT with SLO includes automatic co-registration between two acquisition channels for direct comparison between retinal structures imaged by both modalities (e.g., photoreceptor mosaics or microvasculature maps). Because of differences in the detection scheme of the two systems, this dual imaging modality instrument can provide insight into retinal morphology and potentially function, that could not be accessed easily by a single system. In this paper we describe details of the components and parameters of the combined instrument, including incorporation of a novel membrane magnetic deformable mirror with increased stroke and actuator count used as a single wavefront corrector. We also discuss laser safety calculations for this multimodal system. Finally, retinal images acquired in vivo with this system are presented. PMID:21698028

Extracting and compensating dispersion mismatch in ultrahigh-resolution Fourier domain OCT imaging of the retina

PubMed Central

Choi, WooJhon; Baumann, Bernhard; Swanson, Eric A.; Fujimoto, James G.

2012-01-01

We present a numerical approach to extract the dispersion mismatch in ultrahigh-resolution Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging of the retina. The method draws upon an analogy with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. By exploiting mathematical similarities between the expressions for aberration in optical imaging and dispersion mismatch in spectral / Fourier domain OCT, Shack-Hartmann principles can be extended from the two-dimensional paraxial wavevector space (or the x-y plane in the spatial domain) to the one-dimensional wavenumber space (or the z-axis in the spatial domain). For OCT imaging of the retina, different retinal layers, such as the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), the photoreceptor inner and outer segment junction (IS/OS), or all the retinal layers near the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) can be used as point source beacons in the axial direction, analogous to point source beacons used in conventional two-dimensional Shack-Hartman wavefront sensors for aberration characterization. Subtleties regarding speckle phenomena in optical imaging, which affect the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor used in adaptive optics, also occur analogously in this application. Using this approach and carefully suppressing speckle, the dispersion mismatch in spectral / Fourier domain OCT retinal imaging can be successfully extracted numerically and used for numerical dispersion compensation to generate sharper, ultrahigh-resolution OCT images. PMID:23187353

Feasibility and clinical utility of ultra-widefield indocyanine green angiography.

PubMed

Klufas, Michael A; Yannuzzi, Nicolas A; Pang, Claudine E; Srinivas, Sowmya; Sadda, Srinivas R; Freund, K Bailey; Kiss, Szilárd

2015-03-01

To evaluate the feasibility and clinical utility of a novel noncontact scanning laser ophthalmoscope-based ultra-widefield indocyanine green angiographic system. Ultra-widefield indocyanine green angiographic images were captured using a modified Optos P200Tx that produced high-resolution images of the choroidal vasculature with up to a 200° field. Ultra-widefield indocyanine green angiography was performed on patients with a variety of retinal conditions to assess utility of this imaging technique for diagnostic purposes and disease treatment monitoring. Ultra-widefield indocyanine green angiography was performed on 138 eyes of 69 patients. Mean age was 58 ± 16.9 years (range, 24-85 years). The most common ocular pathologies imaged included central serous chorioretinopathy (24 eyes), uveitis (various subtypes, 16 eyes), age-related macular degeneration (12 eyes), and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (4 eyes). In all eyes evaluated with ultra-widefield indocyanine green angiography, high-resolution images of choroidal and retinal circulation were obtained with sufficient detail out to 200° of the fundus. In this series of 138 eyes, scanning laser ophthalmoscope-based ultra-widefield indocyanine green angiography was clinically practical and provided detailed images of both the central and peripheral choroidal circulation. Future studies are needed to refine the clinical value of this imaging modality and the significance of peripheral choroidal vascular changes in the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of ocular diseases.

The Role of Retinal Imaging and Portable Screening Devices in Tele-ophthalmology Applications for Diabetic Retinopathy Management.

PubMed

DeBuc, Delia Cabrera

2016-12-01

In the years since its introduction, retinal imaging has transformed our capability to visualize the posterior pole of the eye. Increasing practical advances in mobile technology, regular monitoring, and population screening for diabetic retinopathy management offer the opportunity for further development of cost-effective applications through remote assessment of the diabetic eye using portable retinal cameras, smart-phone-based devices and telemedicine networks. Numerous retinal imaging methods and mobile technologies in tele-ophthalmology applications have been reported for diabetic retinopathy screening and management. They provide several advantages of automation, sensitivity, specificity, portability, and miniaturization for the development of point-of-care diagnostics for eye complications in diabetes. The aim of this paper is to review the role of retinal imaging and mobile technologies in tele-ophthalmology applications for diabetic retinopathy screening and management. At large, although improvements in current technology and telemedicine services are still needed, telemedicine has demonstrated to be a worthy tool to support health caregivers in the effective management and prevention of diabetes and its complications.

African Descent and Glaucoma Evaluation Study (ADAGES)

PubMed Central

Girkin, Christopher A.; Sample, Pamela A.; Liebmann, Jeffrey M.; Jain, Sonia; Bowd, Christopher; Becerra, Lida M.; Medeiros, Felipe A.; Racette, Lyne; Dirkes, Keri A.; Weinreb, Robert N.; Zangwill, Linda M.

2010-01-01

Objective To define differences in optic disc, retinal nerve fiber layer, and macular structure between healthy participants of African (AD) and European descent (ED) using quantitative imaging techniques in the African Descent and Glaucoma Evaluation Study (ADAGES). Methods Reliable images were obtained using stereoscopic photography, confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (Heidelberg retina tomography [HRT]), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for 648 healthy subjects in ADAGES. Findings were compared and adjusted for age, optic disc area, and reference plane height where appropriate. Results The AD participants had significantly greater optic disc area on HRT (2.06 mm2; P<.001) and OCT (2.47 mm2; P<.001) and a deeper HRT cup depth than the ED group (P<.001). Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was greater in the AD group except within the temporal region, where it was significantly thinner. Central macular thickness and volume were less in the AD group. Conclusions Most of the variations in optic nerve morphologic characteristics between the AD and ED groups are due to differences in disc area. However, differences remain in HRT cup depth, OCT macular thickness and volume, and OCT retinal nerve fiber layer thickness independent of these variables. These differences should be considered in the determination of disease status. PMID:20457974

The use of retinal photography in nonophthalmic settings and its potential for neurology.

PubMed

Pérez, Mario A; Bruce, Beau B; Newman, Nancy J; Biousse, Valérie

2012-11-01

Ocular fundus examination is an important element of the neurological examination. However, direct ophthalmoscopy is difficult to perform without pupillary dilation and requires extensive practice to accurately recognize optic nerve and retinal abnormalities. Recent studies have suggested that digital retinal photography can replace direct ophthalmoscopy in many settings. Ocular fundus imaging is routinely used to document and monitor disease progression in ophthalmology. Advances in optical technology have made it easier to obtain high-quality retinal imaging, even without pupillary dilation. Retinal photography has a high sensitivity, specificity, and interexamination/intraexamination agreement compared with in-person ophthalmologist examination, suggesting that photographs can be used in lieu of ophthalmoscopy in many clinical situations. Nonmydriatic retinal photography has recently gained relevance as a helpful tool for diagnosing neuro-ophthalmologic disorders in the emergency department. In addition, several population-based studies have used retinal imaging to relate ophthalmic abnormalities to the risk of hypertension, renal dysfunction, cardiovascular mortality, subclinical and clinical stroke, and cognitive impairment. The possibility of telemedical consultation offered by digital retinal photography has already increased access to timely and accurate subspecialty care, particularly for underserved areas. Retinal photography (even without pupillary dilation) has become increasingly available to medical fields outside of ophthalmology, allowing for faster and more accurate diagnosis of various ocular, neurological, and systemic disorders. The potential for telemedicine may provide the additional benefits of improving access to appropriate urgent consultation in both clinical and research settings.

The use of retinal photography in non-ophthalmic settings and its potential for neurology

PubMed Central

Pérez, Mario A.; Bruce, Beau B.; Newman, Nancy J.; Biousse, Valérie

2012-01-01

Background Ocular fundus examination is an important element of the neurological examination. However, direct ophthalmoscopy is difficult to perform without pupillary dilation and requires extensive practice to accurately recognize optic nerve and retinal abnormalities. Recent studies have suggested that digital retinal photography can replace direct ophthalmoscopy in many settings. Review Summary Ocular fundus imaging is routinely used to document and monitor disease progression in ophthalmology. Advances in optical technology have made it easier to obtain high-quality retinal imaging, even without pupillary dilation. Retinal photography has a high sensitivity, specificity, and inter-/intra-examination agreement compared to in-person ophthalmologist examination, suggesting that photographs can be used in lieu of ophthalmoscopy in many clinical situations. Non-mydriatic retinal photography has recently gained relevance as a helpful tool for diagnosing neuro-ophthalmologic disorders in the emergency department. Additionally, several population-based studies have used retinal imaging to relate ophthalmic abnormalities to the risk of hypertension, renal dysfunction, cardiovascular mortality, subclinical and clinical stroke, and cognitive impairment. The possibility of telemedical consultation offered by digital retinal photography has already increased access to timely and accurate subspecialty care, particularly for underserved areas. Conclusion Retinal photography (even without pupillary dilation) has become increasingly available to medical fields outside of ophthalmology, allowing for faster and more accurate diagnosis of various ocular, neurologic and systemic disorders. The potential for telemedicine may provide the additional benefits of improving access to appropriate urgent consultation in both clinical and research settings. PMID:23114666

Intra-retinal segmentation of optical coherence tomography images using active contours with a dynamic programming initialization and an adaptive weighting strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gholami, Peyman; Roy, Priyanka; Kuppuswamy Parthasarathy, Mohana; Ommani, Abbas; Zelek, John; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

2018-02-01

Retinal layer shape and thickness are one of the main indicators in the diagnosis of ocular diseases. We present an active contour approach to localize intra-retinal boundaries of eight retinal layers from OCT images. The initial locations of the active contour curves are determined using a Viterbi dynamic programming method. The main energy function is a Chan-Vese active contour model without edges. A boundary term is added to the energy function using an adaptive weighting method to help curves converge to the retinal layer edges more precisely, after evolving of curves towards boundaries, in final iterations. A wavelet-based denoising method is used to remove speckle from OCT images while preserving important details and edges. The performance of the proposed method was tested on a set of healthy and diseased eye SD-OCT images. The experimental results, compared between the proposed method and the manual segmentation, which was determined by an optometrist, indicate that our method has obtained an average of 95.29%, 92.78%, 95.86%, 87.93%, 82.67%, and 90.25% respectively, for accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, Jaccard Index, and Dice Similarity Coefficient over all segmented layers. These results justify the robustness of the proposed method in determining the location of different retinal layers.

An Approach to Evaluate Blurriness in Retinal Images with Vitreous Opacity for Cataract Diagnosis

PubMed Central

Xu, Liang

2017-01-01

Cataract is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world's population. A method to evaluate blurriness for cataract diagnosis in retinal images with vitreous opacity is proposed in this paper. Three types of features are extracted, which include pixel number of visible structures, mean contrast between vessels and background, and local standard deviation. To avoid the wrong detection of vitreous opacity as retinal structures, a morphological method is proposed to detect and remove such lesions from retinal visible structure segmentation. Based on the extracted features, a decision tree is trained to classify retinal images into five grades of blurriness. The proposed approach was tested using 1355 clinical retinal images, and the accuracies of two-class classification and five-grade grading compared with that of manual grading are 92.8% and 81.1%, respectively. The kappa value between automatic grading and manual grading is 0.74 in five-grade grading, in which both variance and P value are less than 0.001. Experimental results show that the grading difference between automatic grading and manual grading is all within 1 grade, which is much improvement compared with that of other available methods. The proposed grading method provides a universal measure of cataract severity and can facilitate the decision of cataract surgery. PMID:29065620

[Pay attention on optical coherence tomography evaluation for optic nerve diseases].

PubMed

Wang, M

2016-12-11

Optical coherence tomography(OCT) had become the most important imaging technique in ophthalmology. OCT is able to segment the retinal nerve fiber layer and retinal ganglion cell layer accurately. Quantitative analysis can be performed for both layers. OCT is very important to evaluate the neuron and axon loss in optic nerve diseases diagnosis. Meanwhile, OCT has great value for differentiating glaucoma and macular diseases from optic nerve diseases. This review presented OCT application in optic nerve diseases diagnosis, differentiation diagnosis, the key points in use and the features of en face OCT and OCT angiography. It gave us suggestions that it should be pay more attention to OCT examination in diagnosis and treatment of optic nerve diseases. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2016, 52: 885 - 888) .

Statistical wiring of thalamic receptive fields optimizes spatial sampling of the retinal image

PubMed Central

Wang, Xin; Sommer, Friedrich T.; Hirsch, Judith A.

2014-01-01

Summary It is widely assumed that mosaics of retinal ganglion cells establish the optimal representation of visual space. However, relay cells in the visual thalamus often receive convergent input from several retinal afferents and, in cat, outnumber ganglion cells. To explore how the thalamus transforms the retinal image, we built a model of the retinothalamic circuit using experimental data and simple wiring rules. The model shows how the thalamus might form a resampled map of visual space with the potential to facilitate detection of stimulus position in the presence of sensor noise. Bayesian decoding conducted with the model provides support for this scenario. Despite its benefits, however, resampling introduces image blur, thus impairing edge perception. Whole-cell recordings obtained in vivo suggest that this problem is mitigated by arrangements of excitation and inhibition within the receptive field that effectively boost contrast borders, much like strategies used in digital image processing. PMID:24559681

Vessel Segmentation in Retinal Images Using Multi-scale Line Operator and K-Means Clustering.

PubMed

Saffarzadeh, Vahid Mohammadi; Osareh, Alireza; Shadgar, Bita

2014-04-01

Detecting blood vessels is a vital task in retinal image analysis. The task is more challenging with the presence of bright and dark lesions in retinal images. Here, a method is proposed to detect vessels in both normal and abnormal retinal fundus images based on their linear features. First, the negative impact of bright lesions is reduced by using K-means segmentation in a perceptive space. Then, a multi-scale line operator is utilized to detect vessels while ignoring some of the dark lesions, which have intensity structures different from the line-shaped vessels in the retina. The proposed algorithm is tested on two publicly available STARE and DRIVE databases. The performance of the method is measured by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and the segmentation accuracy. The proposed method achieves 0.9483 and 0.9387 localization accuracy against STARE and DRIVE respectively.

Noninvasive two-photon fluorescence microscopy imaging of mouse retina and RPE through the pupil of the eye

PubMed Central

Palczewska, Grazyna; Dong, Zhiqian; Golczak, Marcin; Hunter, Jennifer J.; Williams, David R.; Alexander, Nathan S.; Palczewski, Krzysztof

2014-01-01

Two-photon excitation microscopy (TPM) can image retinal molecular processes in vivo. Intrinsically fluorescent retinyl esters in sub-cellular structures called retinosomes are an integral part of the visual chromophore regeneration pathway. Fluorescent condensation products of all–trans–retinal accumulate in the eye with age and are also associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Here we report repetitive, dynamic imaging of these compounds in live mice, through the pupil of the eye. Leveraging advanced adaptive optics we developed a data acquisition algorithm that permitted the identification of retinosomes and condensation products in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) by their characteristic localization, spectral properties, and absence in genetically modified or drug-treated mice. This imaging approach has the potential to detect early molecular changes in retinoid metabolism that trigger light and AMD-induced retinal defects and to assess the effectiveness of treatments for these conditions. PMID:24952647

In vivo optical coherence tomography of stimulus-evoked intrinsic optical signals in mouse retinas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Benquan; Lu, Yiming; Yao, Xincheng

2016-09-01

Intrinsic optical signal (IOS) imaging promises a noninvasive method for advanced study and diagnosis of eye diseases. Before pursuing clinical applications, it is essential to understand anatomic and physiological sources of retinal IOSs and to establish the relationship between IOS distortions and eye diseases. The purpose of this study was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of in vivo IOS imaging of mouse models. A high spatiotemporal resolution spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) was employed for depth-resolved retinal imaging. A custom-designed animal holder equipped with ear bar and bite bar was used to minimize eye movements. Dynamic OCT imaging revealed rapid IOS from the photoreceptor's outer segment immediately after the stimulation delivery, and slow IOS changes were observed from inner retinal layers. Comparative photoreceptor IOS and electroretinography recordings suggested that the fast photoreceptor IOS may be attributed to the early stage of phototransduction before the hyperpolarization of retinal photoreceptor.

Optical Coherence Tomography Findings in Endogenous Fungal Chorioretinitis, Retinitis, and Endophthalmitis.

PubMed

Stephens, John D; Adam, Murtaza K; Todorich, Bohzo; Faia, Lisa J; Garg, Sunir; Dunn, James P; Mehta, Sonia

2017-11-01

To describe spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) findings in eyes with endogenous fungal chorioretinitis and endophthalmitis. Retrospective, observational case series of subjects at Wills Eye Hospital and William Beaumont Hospital were identified by screening OCT billing data and cross-referencing with patient charts. Clinical and imaging data were collected for each patient and reviewed. Twelve eyes of seven consecutive patients were identified, demonstrating two patterns of posterior ocular involvement: chorioretinal infiltration and superficial retinal/retinal vascular infiltration without choroidal involvement. Six of 12 eyes had follow-up imaging performed after antifungal treatment, which demonstrated decreased size of choroidal and/or retinal infiltrates. All patients with follow-up imaging had anatomic improvement by OCT of the lesions with treatment. In the future, OCT imaging may provide a method to assess therapeutic response and prognosis for visual recovery in patients with endogenous fungal ocular disease. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2017;48:894-901.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Superpixel guided active contour segmentation of retinal layers in OCT volumes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Fangliang; Gibson, Stuart J.; Marques, Manuel J.; Podoleanu, Adrian

2018-03-01

Retinal OCT image segmentation is a precursor to subsequent medical diagnosis by a clinician or machine learning algorithm. In the last decade, many algorithms have been proposed to detect retinal layer boundaries and simplify the image representation. Inspired by the recent success of superpixel methods for pre-processing natural images, we present a novel framework for segmentation of retinal layers in OCT volume data. In our framework, the region of interest (e.g. the fovea) is located using an adaptive-curve method. The cell layer boundaries are then robustly detected firstly using 1D superpixels, applied to A-scans, and then fitting active contours in B-scan images. Thereafter the 3D cell layer surfaces are efficiently segmented from the volume data. The framework was tested on healthy eye data and we show that it is capable of segmenting up to 12 layers. The experimental results imply the effectiveness of proposed method and indicate its robustness to low image resolution and intrinsic speckle noise.

Automated identification of cone photoreceptors in adaptive optics retinal images.

PubMed

Li, Kaccie Y; Roorda, Austin

2007-05-01

In making noninvasive measurements of the human cone mosaic, the task of labeling each individual cone is unavoidable. Manual labeling is a time-consuming process, setting the motivation for the development of an automated method. An automated algorithm for labeling cones in adaptive optics (AO) retinal images is implemented and tested on real data. The optical fiber properties of cones aided the design of the algorithm. Out of 2153 manually labeled cones from six different images, the automated method correctly identified 94.1% of them. The agreement between the automated and the manual labeling methods varied from 92.7% to 96.2% across the six images. Results between the two methods disagreed for 1.2% to 9.1% of the cones. Voronoi analysis of large montages of AO retinal images confirmed the general hexagonal-packing structure of retinal cones as well as the general cone density variability across portions of the retina. The consistency of our measurements demonstrates the reliability and practicality of having an automated solution to this problem.

Angiography with a multifunctional line scanning ophthalmoscope

PubMed Central

Ferguson, R. Daniel; Patel, Ankit H.; Vazquez, Vanessa; Husain, Deeba

2012-01-01

Abstract. A multifunctional line scanning ophthalmoscope (mLSO) was designed, constructed, and tested on human subjects. The mLSO could sequentially acquire wide-field, confocal, near-infrared reflectance, fluorescein angiography (FA), and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) retinal images. The system also included a retinal tracker (RT) and a photodynamic therapy laser treatment port. The mLSO was tested in a pilot clinical study on human subjects with and without retinal disease. The instrument exhibited robust retinal tracking and high-contrast line scanning imaging. The FA and ICGA angiograms showed a similar appearance of hyper- and hypo-pigmented disease features and a nearly equivalent resolution of fine capillaries compared to a commercial flood-illumination fundus imager. An mLSO-based platform will enable researchers and clinicians to image human and animal eyes with a variety of modalities and deliver therapeutic beams from a single automated interface. This approach has the potential to improve patient comfort and reduce imaging session times, allowing clinicians to better diagnose, plan, and conduct patient procedures with improved outcomes. PMID:22463040

Blind source separation in retinal videos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barriga, Eduardo S.; Truitt, Paul W.; Pattichis, Marios S.; Tüso, Dan; Kwon, Young H.; Kardon, Randy H.; Soliz, Peter

2003-05-01

An optical imaging device of retina function (OID-RF) has been developed to measure changes in blood oxygen saturation due to neural activity resulting from visual stimulation of the photoreceptors in the human retina. The video data that are collected represent a mixture of the functional signal in response to the retinal activation and other signals from undetermined physiological activity. Measured changes in reflectance in response to the visual stimulus are on the order of 0.1% to 1.0% of the total reflected intensity level which makes the functional signal difficult to detect by standard methods since it is masked by the other signals that are present. In this paper, we apply principal component analysis (PCA), blind source separation (BSS), using Extended Spatial Decorrelation (ESD) and independent component analysis (ICA) using the Fast-ICA algorithm to extract the functional signal from the retinal videos. The results revealed that the functional signal in a stimulated retina can be detected through the application of some of these techniques.

Characteristics of eyes with inner retinal cleavage.

PubMed

Hwang, Young Hoon; Kim, Yong Yeon; Kim, Hwang Ki; Sohn, Yong Ho

2015-02-01

Inner retinal cleavage can be misdiagnosed as a glaucomatous retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) defect. This study was performed to characterize eyes with inner retinal cleavage. Inner retinal cleavage is defined as the appearance of a dark spindle-shaped space between the nerve fibers. Patients who presented at our institution with inner retinal cleavage were enrolled in the study. All participants were evaluated by fundus examination, visual field testing with standard automated perimetry, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. A total of 15 eyes of 11 subjects with inner retinal cleavage were included in the study. The median age of the subjects was 57 years (age range, 30-67 years). In each case, inner retinal cleavage was located adjacent to retinal blood vessels. Tissue bridging the cleavage area was observed in ten eyes. Six eyes had epiretinal membranes (ERMs), two eyes had glaucoma, and one eye had ERM in addition to glaucoma. Six eyes with inner retinal cleavage without combined ocular abnormalities had highly myopic refractive error (-6.50 to -8.50 diopters). Cross-sectional OCT images of the areas of inner retinal cleavage demonstrated defects with irregular margins and empty spaces in the inner layers of the retina. During the follow-up period, no eye showed changes in inner retinal layer cleavage or visual field sensitivity. Inner retinal cleavage was found in eyes with high myopia or ERMs. Inner retinal cleavage was associated with structural changes distinct from those associated with glaucomatous RNFL defects.

Measurement of retinal wall-to-lumen ratio by adaptive optics retinal camera: a clinical research.

PubMed

Meixner, Eva; Michelson, Georg

2015-11-01

To measure the wall-to-lumen ratio (WLR) and the cross-sectional area of the vascular wall (WCSA) of retinal arterioles by an Adaptive Optics (AO) retinal camera. Forty-seven human subjects were examined and their medical history was explored. WLR and WCSA were measured on the basis of retinal arteriolar wall thickness (VW), lumen diameter (LD) and vessel diameter (VD) assessed by rtx1 Adaptive Optics retinal camera. WLR was calculated by the formula [Formula: see text]. Arterio-venous ratio (AVR) and microvascular abnormalities were attained by quantitative and qualitative assessment of fundus photographs. Influence of age, arterial hypertension, body mass index (BMI) and retinal microvascular abnormalities on the WLR was examined. An age-adjusted WLR was created to test influences on WLR independently of age. Considering WLR and WCSA, a distinction between eutrophic and hypertrophic retinal remodeling processes was possible. The intra-observer variability (IOV) was 6 % ± 0.9 for arteriolar wall thickness and 2 % ± 0.2 for arteriolar wall thickness plus vessel lumen. WLR depended significantly on the wall thickness (r = 0.715; p < 0.01) of retinal arterioles, but was independent of the total vessel diameter (r = 0.052; p = 0.728). WLR correlated significantly with age (r = 0.769; p < 0.01). Arterial hypertension and a higher BMI were significantly associated with an increased age-adjusted WLR. WLR correlated significantly with the stage of microvascular abnormalities. 55 % of the hypertensive subjects and 11 % of the normotensive subjects showed eutrophic remodeling, while hypertrophic remodeling was not detectable. WLR correlated inversely with AVR. AVR was independent of the arteriolar wall thickness, age and arterial hypertension. The technique of AO retinal imaging allows a direct measurement of the retinal vessel wall and lumen diameter with good intra-observer variability. Age, arterial hypertension and an elevated BMI level are significantly associated with an increased WLR. The wall-to-lumen ratio measured by AO can be used to detect structural retinal microvascular alterations in an early stage of remodeling processes.

Snapshot imaging polarimeters using spatial modulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Haitao

The recent demonstration of a novel snapshot imaging polarimeter using the fringe modulation technique shows a promise in building a compact and moving-parts-free device. As just demonstrated in principle, this technique has not been adequately studied. In the effort of advancing this technique, we build a complete theory framework that can address the key issues regarding the polarization aberrations caused by using the functional elements. With this model, we can have the necessary knowledge in designing, analyzing and optimizing the systems. Also, we propose a broader technique that uses arbitrary modulation instead of sinusoidal fringes, which can give us more engineering freedom and can be the solution of achromatizing the system. In the hardware aspect, several important progresses are made. We extend the polarimeter technique from visible to middle wavelength infrared by using the yttrium vanadate crystals. Also, we incorporate a Savart Plate polarimter into a fundus camera to measure the human eye's retinal retardance, useful information for glaucoma diagnosis. Thirdly, a world-smallest imaging polarimeter is proposed and demonstrated, which may open many applications in security, remote sensing and bioscience.

Robust adaptive optics systems for vision science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burns, S. A.; de Castro, A.; Sawides, L.; Luo, T.; Sapoznik, K.

2018-02-01

Adaptive Optics (AO) is of growing importance for understanding the impact of retinal and systemic diseases on the retina. While AO retinal imaging in healthy eyes is now routine, AO imaging in older eyes and eyes with optical changes to the anterior eye can be difficult and requires a control and an imaging system that is resilient when there is scattering and occlusion from the cornea and lens, as well as in the presence of irregular and small pupils. Our AO retinal imaging system combines evaluation of local image quality of the pupil, with spatially programmable detection. The wavefront control system uses a woofer tweeter approach, combining an electromagnetic mirror and a MEMS mirror and a single Shack Hartmann sensor. The SH sensor samples an 8 mm exit pupil and the subject is aligned to a region within this larger system pupil using a chin and forehead rest. A spot quality metric is calculated in real time for each lenslet. Individual lenslets that do not meet the quality metric are eliminated from the processing. Mirror shapes are smoothed outside the region of wavefront control when pupils are small. The system allows imaging even with smaller irregular pupils, however because the depth of field increases under these conditions, sectioning performance decreases. A retinal conjugate micromirror array selectively directs mid-range scatter to additional detectors. This improves detection of retinal capillaries even when the confocal image has poorer image quality that includes both photoreceptors and blood vessels.

Laser-induced retinal damage thresholds for annular retinal beam profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kennedy, Paul K.; Zuclich, Joseph A.; Lund, David J.; Edsall, Peter R.; Till, Stephen; Stuck, Bruce E.; Hollins, Richard C.

2004-07-01

The dependence of retinal damage thresholds on laser spot size, for annular retinal beam profiles, was measured in vivo for 3 μs, 590 nm pulses from a flashlamp-pumped dye laser. Minimum Visible Lesion (MVL)ED50 thresholds in rhesus were measured for annular retinal beam profiles covering 5, 10, and 20 mrad of visual field; which correspond to outer beam diameters of roughly 70, 160, and 300 μm, respectively, on the primate retina. Annular beam profiles at the retinal plane were achieved using a telescopic imaging system, with the focal properties of the eye represented as an equivalent thin lens, and all annular beam profiles had a 37% central obscuration. As a check on experimental data, theoretical MVL-ED50 thresholds for annular beam exposures were calculated using the Thompson-Gerstman granular model of laser-induced thermal damage to the retina. Threshold calculations were performed for the three experimental beam diameters and for an intermediate case with an outer beam diameter of 230 μm. Results indicate that the threshold vs. spot size trends, for annular beams, are similar to the trends for top hat beams determined in a previous study; i.e., the threshold dose varies with the retinal image area for larger image sizes. The model correctly predicts the threshold vs. spot size trends seen in the biological data, for both annular and top hat retinal beam profiles.

Incremental retinal-defocus theory of myopia development--schematic analysis and computer simulation.

PubMed

Hung, George K; Ciuffreda, Kenneth J

2007-07-01

Previous theories of myopia development involved subtle and complex processes such as the sensing and analyzing of chromatic aberration, spherical aberration, spatial gradient of blur, or spatial frequency content of the retinal image, but they have not been able to explain satisfactorily the diverse experimental results reported in the literature. On the other hand, our newly proposed incremental retinal-defocus theory (IRDT) has been able to explain all of these results. This theory is based on a relatively simple and direct mechanism for the regulation of ocular growth. It states that a time-averaged decrease in retinal-image defocus area decreases the rate of release of retinal neuromodulators, which decreases the rate of retinal proteoglycan synthesis with an associated decrease in scleral structural integrity. This increases the rate of scleral growth, and in turn the eye's axial length, which leads to myopia. Our schematic analysis has provided a clear explanation for the eye's ability to grow in the appropriate direction under a wide range of experimental conditions. In addition, the theory has been able to explain how repeated cycles of nearwork-induced transient myopia leads to repeated periods of decreased retinal-image defocus, whose cumulative effect over an extended period of time results in an increase in axial growth that leads to permanent myopia. Thus, this unifying theory forms the basis for understanding the underlying retinal and scleral mechanisms of myopia development.

Classification of Human Retinal Microaneurysms Using Adaptive Optics Scanning Light Ophthalmoscope Fluorescein Angiography

PubMed Central

Dubow, Michael; Pinhas, Alexander; Shah, Nishit; Cooper, Robert F.; Gan, Alexander; Gentile, Ronald C.; Hendrix, Vernon; Sulai, Yusufu N.; Carroll, Joseph; Chui, Toco Y. P.; Walsh, Joseph B.; Weitz, Rishard; Dubra, Alfredo; Rosen, Richard B.

2014-01-01

Purpose. Microaneurysms (MAs) are considered a hallmark of retinal vascular disease, yet what little is known about them is mostly based upon histology, not clinical observation. Here, we use the recently developed adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) fluorescein angiography (FA) to image human MAs in vivo and to expand on previously described MA morphologic classification schemes. Methods. Patients with vascular retinopathies (diabetic, hypertensive, and branch and central retinal vein occlusion) were imaged with reflectance AOSLO and AOSLO FA. Ninety-three MAs, from 14 eyes, were imaged and classified according to appearance into six morphologic groups: focal bulge, saccular, fusiform, mixed, pedunculated, and irregular. The MA perimeter, area, and feret maximum and minimum were correlated to morphology and retinal pathology. Select MAs were imaged longitudinally in two eyes. Results. Adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope fluorescein angiography imaging revealed microscopic features of MAs not appreciated on conventional images. Saccular MAs were most prevalent (47%). No association was found between the type of retinal pathology and MA morphology (P = 0.44). Pedunculated and irregular MAs were among the largest MAs with average areas of 4188 and 4116 μm2, respectively. Focal hypofluorescent regions were noted in 30% of MAs and were more likely to be associated with larger MAs (3086 vs. 1448 μm2, P = 0.0001). Conclusions. Retinal MAs can be classified in vivo into six different morphologic types, according to the geometry of their two-dimensional (2D) en face view. Adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope fluorescein angiography imaging of MAs offers the possibility of studying microvascular change on a histologic scale, which may help our understanding of disease progression and treatment response. PMID:24425852

High resolution multimodal clinical ophthalmic imaging system

PubMed Central

Mujat, Mircea; Ferguson, R. Daniel; Patel, Ankit H.; Iftimia, Nicusor; Lue, Niyom; Hammer, Daniel X.

2010-01-01

We developed a multimodal adaptive optics (AO) retinal imager which is the first to combine high performance AO-corrected scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) and swept source Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (SSOCT) imaging modes in a single compact clinical prototype platform. Such systems are becoming ever more essential to vision research and are expected to prove their clinical value for diagnosis of retinal diseases, including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and retinitis pigmentosa. The SSOCT channel operates at a wavelength of 1 µm for increased penetration and visualization of the choriocapillaris and choroid, sites of major disease activity for DR and wet AMD. This AO system is designed for use in clinical populations; a dual deformable mirror (DM) configuration allows simultaneous low- and high-order aberration correction over a large range of refractions and ocular media quality. The system also includes a wide field (33 deg.) line scanning ophthalmoscope (LSO) for initial screening, target identification, and global orientation, an integrated retinal tracker (RT) to stabilize the SLO, OCT, and LSO imaging fields in the presence of lateral eye motion, and a high-resolution LCD-based fixation target for presentation of visual cues. The system was tested in human subjects without retinal disease for performance optimization and validation. We were able to resolve and quantify cone photoreceptors across the macula to within ~0.5 deg (~100-150 µm) of the fovea, image and delineate ten retinal layers, and penetrate to resolve features deep into the choroid. The prototype presented here is the first of a new class of powerful flexible imaging platforms that will provide clinicians and researchers with high-resolution, high performance adaptive optics imaging to help guide therapies, develop new drugs, and improve patient outcomes. PMID:20589021

Meaning of visualizing retinal cone mosaic on adaptive optics images.

PubMed

Jacob, Julie; Paques, Michel; Krivosic, Valérie; Dupas, Bénédicte; Couturier, Aude; Kulcsar, Caroline; Tadayoni, Ramin; Massin, Pascale; Gaudric, Alain

2015-01-01

To explore the anatomic correlation of the retinal cone mosaic on adaptive optics images. Retrospective nonconsecutive observational case series. A retrospective review of the multimodal imaging charts of 6 patients with focal alteration of the cone mosaic on adaptive optics was performed. Retinal diseases included acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy (n = 1), hydroxychloroquine retinopathy (n = 1), and macular telangiectasia type 2 (n = 4). High-resolution retinal images were obtained using a flood-illumination adaptive optics camera. Images were recorded using standard imaging modalities: color and red-free fundus camera photography; infrared reflectance scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. On OCT, in the marginal zone of the lesions, a disappearance of the interdigitation zone was observed, while the ellipsoid zone was preserved. Image recording demonstrated that such attenuation of the interdigitation zone co-localized with the disappearance of the cone mosaic on adaptive optics images. In 1 case, the restoration of the interdigitation zone paralleled that of the cone mosaic after a 2-month follow-up. Our results suggest that the interdigitation zone could contribute substantially to the reflectance of the cone photoreceptor mosaic. The absence of cones on adaptive optics images does not necessarily mean photoreceptor cell death. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multifractal geometry in analysis and processing of digital retinal photographs for early diagnosis of human diabetic macular edema.

PubMed

Tălu, Stefan

2013-07-01

The purpose of this paper is to determine a quantitative assessment of the human retinal vascular network architecture for patients with diabetic macular edema (DME). Multifractal geometry and lacunarity parameters are used in this study. A set of 10 segmented and skeletonized human retinal images, corresponding to both normal (five images) and DME states of the retina (five images), from the DRIVE database was analyzed using the Image J software. Statistical analyses were performed using Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and GraphPad InStat software. The human retinal vascular network architecture has a multifractal geometry. The average of generalized dimensions (Dq) for q = 0, 1, 2 of the normal images (segmented versions), is similar to the DME cases (segmented versions). The average of generalized dimensions (Dq) for q = 0, 1 of the normal images (skeletonized versions), is slightly greater than the DME cases (skeletonized versions). However, the average of D2 for the normal images (skeletonized versions) is similar to the DME images. The average of lacunarity parameter, Λ, for the normal images (segmented and skeletonized versions) is slightly lower than the corresponding values for DME images (segmented and skeletonized versions). The multifractal and lacunarity analysis provides a non-invasive predictive complementary tool for an early diagnosis of patients with DME.

In Vivo Confocal Intrinsic Optical Signal Identification of Localized Retinal Dysfunction

PubMed Central

Zhang, Qiu-Xiang; Lu, Rong-Wen; Curcio, Christine A.; Yao, Xin-Cheng

2012-01-01

Purpose. The purposes of this study were to investigate the physiological mechanism of stimulus-evoked fast intrinsic optical signals (IOSs) recorded in dynamic confocal imaging of the retina, and to demonstrate the feasibility of in vivo confocal IOS mapping of localized retinal dysfunctions. Methods. A rapid line-scan confocal ophthalmoscope was constructed to achieve in vivo confocal IOS imaging of frog (Rana pipiens) retinas at cellular resolution. In order to investigate the physiological mechanism of confocal IOS, comparative IOS and electroretinography (ERG) measurements were made using normal frog eyes activated by variable-intensity stimuli. A dynamic spatiotemporal filtering algorithm was developed to reject the contamination of hemodynamic changes on fast IOS recording. Laser-injured frog eyes were employed to test the potential of confocal IOS mapping of localized retinal dysfunctions. Results. Comparative IOS and ERG experiments revealed a close correlation between the confocal IOS and retinal ERG, particularly the ERG a-wave, which has been widely used to evaluate photoreceptor function. IOS imaging of laser-injured frog eyes indicated that the confocal IOS could unambiguously detect localized (30 μm) functional lesions in the retina before a morphological abnormality is detectable. Conclusions. The confocal IOS predominantly results from retinal photoreceptors, and can be used to map localized photoreceptor lesion in laser-injured frog eyes. We anticipate that confocal IOS imaging can provide applications in early detection of age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and other retinal diseases that can cause pathological changes in the photoreceptors. PMID:23150616

Enhanced retinal vasculature imaging with a rapidly configurable aperture

PubMed Central

Sapoznik, Kaitlyn A.; Luo, Ting; de Castro, Alberto; Sawides, Lucie; Warner, Raymond L.; Burns, Stephen A.

2018-01-01

In adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) systems, capturing multiply scattered light can increase the contrast of the retinal microvasculature structure, cone inner segments, and retinal ganglion cells. Current systems generally use either a split detector or offset aperture approach to collect this light. We tested the ability of a spatial light modulator (SLM) as a rapidly configurable aperture to use more complex shapes to enhance the contrast of retinal structure. Particularly, we varied the orientation of a split detector aperture and explored the use of a more complex shape, the half annulus, to enhance the contrast of the retinal vasculature. We used the new approach to investigate the influence of scattering distance and orientation on vascular imaging. PMID:29541524

An improved arteriovenous classification method for the early diagnostics of various diseases in retinal image.

PubMed

Xu, Xiayu; Ding, Wenxiang; Abràmoff, Michael D; Cao, Ruofan

2017-04-01

Retinal artery and vein classification is an important task for the automatic computer-aided diagnosis of various eye diseases and systemic diseases. This paper presents an improved supervised artery and vein classification method in retinal image. Intra-image regularization and inter-subject normalization is applied to reduce the differences in feature space. Novel features, including first-order and second-order texture features, are utilized to capture the discriminating characteristics of arteries and veins. The proposed method was tested on the DRIVE dataset and achieved an overall accuracy of 0.923. This retinal artery and vein classification algorithm serves as a potentially important tool for the early diagnosis of various diseases, including diabetic retinopathy and cardiovascular diseases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterisation of human non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy using the fractal analysis

PubMed Central

Ţălu, Ştefan; Călugăru, Dan Mihai; Lupaşcu, Carmen Alina

2015-01-01

AIM To investigate and quantify changes in the branching patterns of the retina vascular network in diabetes using the fractal analysis method. METHODS This was a clinic-based prospective study of 172 participants managed at the Ophthalmological Clinic of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between January 2012 and December 2013. A set of 172 segmented and skeletonized human retinal images, corresponding to both normal (24 images) and pathological (148 images) states of the retina were examined. An automatic unsupervised method for retinal vessel segmentation was applied before fractal analysis. The fractal analyses of the retinal digital images were performed using the fractal analysis software ImageJ. Statistical analyses were performed for these groups using Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and GraphPad InStat software. RESULTS It was found that subtle changes in the vascular network geometry of the human retina are influenced by diabetic retinopathy (DR) and can be estimated using the fractal geometry. The average of fractal dimensions D for the normal images (segmented and skeletonized versions) is slightly lower than the corresponding values of mild non-proliferative DR (NPDR) images (segmented and skeletonized versions). The average of fractal dimensions D for the normal images (segmented and skeletonized versions) is higher than the corresponding values of moderate NPDR images (segmented and skeletonized versions). The lowest values were found for the corresponding values of severe NPDR images (segmented and skeletonized versions). CONCLUSION The fractal analysis of fundus photographs may be used for a more complete undeTrstanding of the early and basic pathophysiological mechanisms of diabetes. The architecture of the retinal microvasculature in diabetes can be quantitative quantified by means of the fractal dimension. Microvascular abnormalities on retinal imaging may elucidate early mechanistic pathways for microvascular complications and distinguish patients with DR from healthy individuals. PMID:26309878

Characterisation of human non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy using the fractal analysis.

PubMed

Ţălu, Ştefan; Călugăru, Dan Mihai; Lupaşcu, Carmen Alina

2015-01-01

To investigate and quantify changes in the branching patterns of the retina vascular network in diabetes using the fractal analysis method. This was a clinic-based prospective study of 172 participants managed at the Ophthalmological Clinic of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between January 2012 and December 2013. A set of 172 segmented and skeletonized human retinal images, corresponding to both normal (24 images) and pathological (148 images) states of the retina were examined. An automatic unsupervised method for retinal vessel segmentation was applied before fractal analysis. The fractal analyses of the retinal digital images were performed using the fractal analysis software ImageJ. Statistical analyses were performed for these groups using Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and GraphPad InStat software. It was found that subtle changes in the vascular network geometry of the human retina are influenced by diabetic retinopathy (DR) and can be estimated using the fractal geometry. The average of fractal dimensions D for the normal images (segmented and skeletonized versions) is slightly lower than the corresponding values of mild non-proliferative DR (NPDR) images (segmented and skeletonized versions). The average of fractal dimensions D for the normal images (segmented and skeletonized versions) is higher than the corresponding values of moderate NPDR images (segmented and skeletonized versions). The lowest values were found for the corresponding values of severe NPDR images (segmented and skeletonized versions). The fractal analysis of fundus photographs may be used for a more complete undeTrstanding of the early and basic pathophysiological mechanisms of diabetes. The architecture of the retinal microvasculature in diabetes can be quantitative quantified by means of the fractal dimension. Microvascular abnormalities on retinal imaging may elucidate early mechanistic pathways for microvascular complications and distinguish patients with DR from healthy individuals.

Acute progressive paravascular placoid neuroretinopathy with negative-type electroretinography in paraneoplastic retinopathy.

PubMed

Chen, Fred K; Chew, Avenell L; Zhang, Dan; Chen, Shang-Chih; Chelva, Enid; Chandrasekera, Erandi; Koay, Eleanor M H; Forrester, John; McLenachan, Samuel

2017-06-01

Paraneoplastic retinopathy can be the first manifestation of systemic malignancy. A subset of paraneoplastic retinopathy is characterized by negative-type electroretinography (ERG) without fundus abnormality. Here we describe the multimodal imaging and clinico-pathological correlation of a unique case of acute progressive paravascular placoid neuroretinopathy with suspected retinal depolarizing bipolar cell dysfunction preceding the diagnosis of metastatic small cell carcinoma of the prostate. ERG was performed according to the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision standards. Imaging modalities included near-infrared reflectance, blue-light autofluorescence, fluorescein and indocyanine green angiographies, spectral domain optical coherence tomography, ultra-widefield colour and green-light autofluorescence imaging, microperimetry and adaptive optics imaging. Patient serum was screened for anti-retinal antibodies using western blotting. Immunostaining and histological analyses were performed on sections from human retinal tissues and a patient prostate biopsy. Serial multimodal retinal imaging, microperimetry and adaptive optics photography demonstrated a paravascular distribution of placoid lesions characterized by hyper-reflectivity within the outer nuclear layer resembling type 2 acute macular neuroretinopathy. There was no visible lesion within the inner nuclear layer despite electronegative-type ERG. Six months later, the patient presented with metastatic small cell carcinoma of the prostate. Tumour cells were immunopositive for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, enolase and recoverin as well as neuroendocrine markers. The patient's serum reacted to cytoplasmic and nuclear antigens in the prostate biopsy and in human retina. Anti-retinal antibodies against several antigens were detected by both commercial and in-house western blots. A spectrum of autoreactive anti-retinal antibodies is associated with a unique phenotype of acute progressive paravascular placoid neuroretinopathy resulting in degeneration of photoreceptor cells, inner retinal dysfunction and classic electronegative ERG in paraneoplastic retinopathy. Detailed clinical, functional and immunological phenotyping of paraneoplastic retinopathy illustrated the complex mechanism of paraneoplastic syndrome.

Integration of a Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography System into a Surgical Microscope for Intraoperative Imaging

PubMed Central

Ehlers, Justis P.; Tao, Yuankai K.; Farsiu, Sina; Maldonado, Ramiro; Izatt, Joseph A.

2011-01-01

Purpose. To demonstrate an operating microscope-mounted spectral domain optical coherence tomography (MMOCT) system for human retinal and model surgery imaging. Methods. A prototype MMOCT system was developed to interface directly with an ophthalmic surgical microscope, to allow SDOCT imaging during surgical viewing. Nonoperative MMOCT imaging was performed in an Institutional Review Board–approved protocol in four healthy volunteers. The effect of surgical instrument materials on MMOCT imaging was evaluated while performing retinal surface, intraretinal, and subretinal maneuvers in cadaveric porcine eyes. The instruments included forceps, metallic and polyamide subretinal needles, and soft silicone-tipped instruments, with and without diamond dusting. Results. High-resolution images of the human retina were successfully obtained with the MMOCT system. The optical properties of surgical instruments affected the visualization of the instrument and the underlying retina. Metallic instruments (e.g., forceps and needles) showed high reflectivity with total shadowing below the instrument. Polyamide material had a moderate reflectivity with subtotal shadowing. Silicone instrumentation showed moderate reflectivity with minimal shadowing. Summed voxel projection MMOCT images provided clear visualization of the instruments, whereas the B-scans from the volume revealed details of the interactions between the tissues and the instrumentation (e.g., subretinal space cannulation, retinal elevation, or retinal holes). Conclusions. High-quality retinal imaging is feasible with an MMOCT system. Intraoperative imaging with model eyes provides high-resolution depth information including visualization of the instrument and intraoperative tissue manipulation. This study demonstrates a key component of an interactive platform that could provide enhanced information for the vitreoretinal surgeon. PMID:21282565

Integration of a spectral domain optical coherence tomography system into a surgical microscope for intraoperative imaging.

PubMed

Ehlers, Justis P; Tao, Yuankai K; Farsiu, Sina; Maldonado, Ramiro; Izatt, Joseph A; Toth, Cynthia A

2011-05-16

To demonstrate an operating microscope-mounted spectral domain optical coherence tomography (MMOCT) system for human retinal and model surgery imaging. A prototype MMOCT system was developed to interface directly with an ophthalmic surgical microscope, to allow SDOCT imaging during surgical viewing. Nonoperative MMOCT imaging was performed in an Institutional Review Board-approved protocol in four healthy volunteers. The effect of surgical instrument materials on MMOCT imaging was evaluated while performing retinal surface, intraretinal, and subretinal maneuvers in cadaveric porcine eyes. The instruments included forceps, metallic and polyamide subretinal needles, and soft silicone-tipped instruments, with and without diamond dusting. High-resolution images of the human retina were successfully obtained with the MMOCT system. The optical properties of surgical instruments affected the visualization of the instrument and the underlying retina. Metallic instruments (e.g., forceps and needles) showed high reflectivity with total shadowing below the instrument. Polyamide material had a moderate reflectivity with subtotal shadowing. Silicone instrumentation showed moderate reflectivity with minimal shadowing. Summed voxel projection MMOCT images provided clear visualization of the instruments, whereas the B-scans from the volume revealed details of the interactions between the tissues and the instrumentation (e.g., subretinal space cannulation, retinal elevation, or retinal holes). High-quality retinal imaging is feasible with an MMOCT system. Intraoperative imaging with model eyes provides high-resolution depth information including visualization of the instrument and intraoperative tissue manipulation. This study demonstrates a key component of an interactive platform that could provide enhanced information for the vitreoretinal surgeon.

RETINAL DEEP CAPILLARY ISCHEMIA ASSOCIATED WITH AN OCCLUDED CONGENITAL RETINAL MACROVESSEL.

PubMed

Hasegawa, Taiji; Ogata, Nahoko

2017-01-01

To report the case of a patient with an occluded congenital retinal macrovessel accompanied by retinal deep capillary ischemia. A 38-year-old woman presented with a 2-day history of a paracentral scotoma of her right eye. Fundus photograph showed a dilated congenital retinal macrovessel with arteriovenous anastomosis, an intravascular white region indicating the thrombus at arteriovenous anastomotic region, and an area of retinal whitening temporal to the fovea. The spectral domain optical coherence tomography images through the area of retinal whitening showed a thickening and highly reflectivity at the level of the inner nuclear layer, which is likely due to the deep capillary ischemia. After 6 weeks, spectral domain optical coherence tomography images through the same area demonstrated a thinning and atrophy of only the inner nuclear layer, and the patient's paracentral scotoma persisted. Acute capillary hemodynamic changes caused deep capillary ischemia. The spectral domain optical coherence tomography showed a highly reflective lesion at the level of the inner nuclear layer in the acute phase.

A new approach to optic disc detection in human retinal images using the firefly algorithm.

PubMed

Rahebi, Javad; Hardalaç, Fırat

2016-03-01

There are various methods and algorithms to detect the optic discs in retinal images. In recent years, much attention has been given to the utilization of the intelligent algorithms. In this paper, we present a new automated method of optic disc detection in human retinal images using the firefly algorithm. The firefly intelligent algorithm is an emerging intelligent algorithm that was inspired by the social behavior of fireflies. The population in this algorithm includes the fireflies, each of which has a specific rate of lighting or fitness. In this method, the insects are compared two by two, and the less attractive insects can be observed to move toward the more attractive insects. Finally, one of the insects is selected as the most attractive, and this insect presents the optimum response to the problem in question. Here, we used the light intensity of the pixels of the retinal image pixels instead of firefly lightings. The movement of these insects due to local fluctuations produces different light intensity values in the images. Because the optic disc is the brightest area in the retinal images, all of the insects move toward brightest area and thus specify the location of the optic disc in the image. The results of implementation show that proposed algorithm could acquire an accuracy rate of 100 % in DRIVE dataset, 95 % in STARE dataset, and 94.38 % in DiaRetDB1 dataset. The results of implementation reveal high capability and accuracy of proposed algorithm in the detection of the optic disc from retinal images. Also, recorded required time for the detection of the optic disc in these images is 2.13 s for DRIVE dataset, 2.81 s for STARE dataset, and 3.52 s for DiaRetDB1 dataset accordingly. These time values are average value.

In vivo thickness and birefringence determination of the human retinal nerve fiber layer using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Cense, B; Chen, T C; de Boer, J F

2006-01-01

Thinning of the retinal nerve fiber layer and changes in retinal nerve fiber layer birefringence may both precede clinically detectable glaucomatous vision loss. We present in vivo thickness and depth-resolved birefringence measurements of the human retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) by use of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). Using a fiber-based PS-OCT setup real-time images of the human retina in vivo were recorded, co-registered with retinal video images of the location of PS-OCT scans. PS-OCT scans around the optic nerve head (ONH) of two healthy young volunteers were made using 10 concentric circles of increasing radius. Both the mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and mean retinal nerve fiber birefringence for each of 48 sectors on a circle were determined. The retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and birefringence varied as a function of sector around the ONH. Measured double pass phase retardation per unit depth values around the ONH range between 0.10 and 0.35 degrees/microm. The retinal nerve fiber layer becomes thinner with increasing distance from the ONH. In contrast, the birefringence does not vary significantly with increasing distance from the ONH.

Retinal Wave Patterns Are Governed by Mutual Excitation among Starburst Amacrine Cells and Drive the Refinement and Maintenance of Visual Circuits

PubMed Central

Xu, Hong-Ping; Burbridge, Timothy J.; Ye, Meijun; Chen, Minggang; Ge, Xinxin; Zhou, Z. Jimmy

2016-01-01

Retinal waves are correlated bursts of spontaneous activity whose spatiotemporal patterns are critical for early activity-dependent circuit elaboration and refinement in the mammalian visual system. Three separate developmental wave epochs or stages have been described, but the mechanism(s) of pattern generation of each and their distinct roles in visual circuit development remain incompletely understood. We used neuroanatomical, in vitro and in vivo electrophysiological, and optical imaging techniques in genetically manipulated mice to examine the mechanisms of wave initiation and propagation and the role of wave patterns in visual circuit development. Through deletion of β2 subunits of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (β2-nAChRs) selectively from starburst amacrine cells (SACs), we show that mutual excitation among SACs is critical for Stage II (cholinergic) retinal wave propagation, supporting models of wave initiation and pattern generation from within a single retinal cell type. We also demonstrate that β2-nAChRs in SACs, and normal wave patterns, are necessary for eye-specific segregation. Finally, we show that Stage III (glutamatergic) retinal waves are not themselves necessary for normal eye-specific segregation, but elimination of both Stage II and Stage III retinal waves dramatically disrupts eye-specific segregation. This suggests that persistent Stage II retinal waves can adequately compensate for Stage III retinal wave loss during the development and refinement of eye-specific segregation. These experiments confirm key features of the “recurrent network” model for retinal wave propagation and clarify the roles of Stage II and Stage III retinal wave patterns in visual circuit development. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Spontaneous activity drives early mammalian circuit development, but the initiation and patterning of activity vary across development and among modalities. Cholinergic “retinal waves” are initiated in starburst amacrine cells and propagate to retinal ganglion cells and higher-order visual areas, but the mechanism responsible for creating their unique and critical activity pattern is incompletely understood. We demonstrate that cholinergic wave patterns are dictated by recurrent connectivity within starburst amacrine cells, and retinal ganglion cells act as “readouts” of patterned activity. We also show that eye-specific segregation occurs normally without glutamatergic waves, but elimination of both cholinergic and glutamatergic waves completely disrupts visual circuit development. These results suggest that each retinal wave pattern during development is optimized for concurrently refining multiple visual circuits. PMID:27030771

Alterations of the tunica vasculosa lentis in the rat model of retinopathy of prematurity.

PubMed

Favazza, Tara L; Tanimoto, Naoyuki; Munro, Robert J; Beck, Susanne C; Garcia Garrido, Marina; Seide, Christina; Sothilingam, Vithiyanjali; Hansen, Ronald M; Fulton, Anne B; Seeliger, Mathias W; Akula, James D

2013-08-01

To study the relationship between retinal and tunica vasculosa lentis (TVL) disease in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Although the clinical hallmark of ROP is abnormal retinal blood vessels, the vessels of the anterior segment, including the TVL, are also altered. ROP was induced in Long-Evans pigmented and Sprague Dawley albino rats; room-air-reared (RAR) rats served as controls. Then, fluorescein angiographic images of the TVL and retinal vessels were serially obtained with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope near the height of retinal vascular disease, ~20 days of age, and again at 30 and 64 days of age. Additionally, electroretinograms (ERGs) were obtained prior to the first imaging session. The TVL images were analyzed for percent coverage of the posterior lens. The tortuosity of the retinal arterioles was determined using Retinal Image multiScale Analysis (Gelman et al. in Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 46:4734-4738, 2005). In the youngest ROP rats, the TVL was dense, while in RAR rats, it was relatively sparse. By 30 days, the TVL in RAR rats had almost fully regressed, while in ROP rats, it was still pronounced. By the final test age, the TVL had completely regressed in both ROP and RAR rats. In parallel, the tortuous retinal arterioles in ROP rats resolved with increasing age. ERG components indicating postreceptoral dysfunction, the b-wave, and oscillatory potentials were attenuated in ROP rats. These findings underscore the retinal vascular abnormalities and, for the first time, show abnormal anterior segment vasculature in the rat model of ROP. There is delayed regression of the TVL in the rat model of ROP. This demonstrates that ROP is a disease of the whole eye.

Alterations of the Tunica Vasculosa Lentis in the Rat Model of Retinopathy of Prematurity

PubMed Central

Favazza, Tara L; Tanimoto, Naoyuki; Munro, Robert J.; Beck, Susanne C.; Garrido, Marina G.; Seide, Christina; Sothilingam, Vithiyanjali; Hansen, Ronald M.; Fulton, Anne B.; Seeliger, Mathias W.; Akula, James D

2013-01-01

Purpose To study the relation between retinal and tunica vasculosa lentis (TVL) disease in ROP. Although the clinical hallmark of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is abnormal retinal blood vessels, the vessels of the anterior segment, including the TVL, are also altered. Methods ROP was induced in Long Evans pigmented and Sprague-Dawley albino rats; room-air-reared (RAR) rats served as controls. Then, fluorescein angiographic images of the TVL and retinal vessels were serially obtained with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) near the height of retinal vascular disease, ∼20 days-of-age, and again at 30 and 64 days-of-age. Additionally, electroretinograms (ERGs) were obtained prior to the first imaging session. The TVL images were analyzed for percent coverage of the posterior lens. The tortuosity of the retinal arterioles was determined using Retinal Image multiScale Analysis (RISA; Gelman et al., 2005). Results In the youngest ROP rats, the TVL was dense, while in RAR rats, it was relatively sparse. By 30 days, the TVL in RAR rats had almost fully regressed, while in ROP rats it was still pronounced. By the final test age, the TVL had completely regressed in both ROP and RAR rats. In parallel, the tortuous retinal arterioles in ROP rats resolved with increasing age. ERG components indicating postreceptoral dysfunction, the b-wave and oscillatory potentials (OPs), were attenuated in ROP rats. Conclusions These findings underscore the retinal vascular abnormalities and, for the first time, show abnormal anterior segment vasculature in the rat model of ROP. There is delayed regression of the TVL in the rat model of ROP. This demonstrates that ROP is a disease of the whole eye. PMID:23748796

Retinal optical coherence tomography at 1 μm with dynamic focus control and axial motion tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cua, Michelle; Lee, Sujin; Miao, Dongkai; Ju, Myeong Jin; Mackenzie, Paul J.; Jian, Yifan; Sarunic, Marinko V.

2016-02-01

High-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal imaging is important to noninvasively visualize the various retinal structures to aid in better understanding of the pathogenesis of vision-robbing diseases. However, conventional OCT systems have a trade-off between lateral resolution and depth-of-focus. In this report, we present the development of a focus-stacking OCT system with automatic focus optimization for high-resolution, extended-focal-range clinical retinal imaging by incorporating a variable-focus liquid lens into the sample arm optics. Retinal layer tracking and selection was performed using a graphics processing unit accelerated processing platform for focus optimization, providing real-time layer-specific en face visualization. After optimization, multiple volumes focused at different depths were acquired, registered, and stitched together to yield a single, high-resolution focus-stacked dataset. Using this system, we show high-resolution images of the retina and optic nerve head, from which we extracted clinically relevant parameters such as the nerve fiber layer thickness and lamina cribrosa microarchitecture.

Retinal optical coherence tomography at 1 μm with dynamic focus control and axial motion tracking.

PubMed

Cua, Michelle; Lee, Sujin; Miao, Dongkai; Ju, Myeong Jin; Mackenzie, Paul J; Jian, Yifan; Sarunic, Marinko V

2016-02-01

High-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal imaging is important to noninvasively visualize the various retinal structures to aid in better understanding of the pathogenesis of vision-robbing diseases. However, conventional OCT systems have a trade-off between lateral resolution and depth-of-focus. In this report, we present the development of a focus-stacking OCT system with automatic focus optimization for high-resolution, extended-focal-range clinical retinal imaging by incorporating a variable-focus liquid lens into the sample arm optics. Retinal layer tracking and selection was performed using a graphics processing unit accelerated processing platform for focus optimization, providing real-time layer-specific en face visualization. After optimization, multiple volumes focused at different depths were acquired, registered, and stitched together to yield a single, high-resolution focus-stacked dataset. Using this system, we show high-resolution images of the retina and optic nerve head, from which we extracted clinically relevant parameters such as the nerve fiber layer thickness and lamina cribrosa microarchitecture.

A Method for En Face OCT Imaging of Subretinal Fluid in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

PubMed Central

Mohammad, Fatimah; Wanek, Justin; Zelkha, Ruth; Lim, Jennifer I.; Chen, Judy; Shahidi, Mahnaz

2014-01-01

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to report a method for en face imaging of subretinal fluid (SRF) due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) based on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT). Methods. High density SDOCT imaging was performed at two visits in 4 subjects with neovascular AMD and one healthy subject. En face OCT images of a retinal layer anterior to the retinal pigment epithelium were generated. Validity, repeatability, and utility of the method were established. Results. En face OCT images generated by manual and automatic segmentation were nearly indistinguishable and displayed similar regions of SRF. En face OCT images displayed uniform intensities and similar retinal vascular patterns in a healthy subject, while the size and appearance of a hypopigmented fibrotic scar in an AMD subject were similar at 2 visits. In AMD subjects, dark regions on en face OCT images corresponded to reduced or absent light reflectance due to SRF. On en face OCT images, a decrease in SRF areas with treatment was demonstrated and this corresponded with a reduction in the central subfield retinal thickness. Conclusion. En face OCT imaging is a promising tool for visualization and monitoring of SRF area due to disease progression and treatment. PMID:25478209

In vivo imaging of human photoreceptor mosaic with wavefront sensorless adaptive optics optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Wong, Kevin S K; Jian, Yifan; Cua, Michelle; Bonora, Stefano; Zawadzki, Robert J; Sarunic, Marinko V

2015-02-01

Wavefront sensorless adaptive optics optical coherence tomography (WSAO-OCT) is a novel imaging technique for in vivo high-resolution depth-resolved imaging that mitigates some of the challenges encountered with the use of sensor-based adaptive optics designs. This technique replaces the Hartmann Shack wavefront sensor used to measure aberrations with a depth-resolved image-driven optimization algorithm, with the metric based on the OCT volumes acquired in real-time. The custom-built ultrahigh-speed GPU processing platform and fast modal optimization algorithm presented in this paper was essential in enabling real-time, in vivo imaging of human retinas with wavefront sensorless AO correction. WSAO-OCT is especially advantageous for developing a clinical high-resolution retinal imaging system as it enables the use of a compact, low-cost and robust lens-based adaptive optics design. In this report, we describe our WSAO-OCT system for imaging the human photoreceptor mosaic in vivo. We validated our system performance by imaging the retina at several eccentricities, and demonstrated the improvement in photoreceptor visibility with WSAO compensation.

Fast vessel segmentation in retinal images using multi-scale enhancement and second-order local entropy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, H.; Barriga, S.; Agurto, C.; Zamora, G.; Bauman, W.; Soliz, P.

2012-03-01

Retinal vasculature is one of the most important anatomical structures in digital retinal photographs. Accurate segmentation of retinal blood vessels is an essential task in automated analysis of retinopathy. This paper presents a new and effective vessel segmentation algorithm that features computational simplicity and fast implementation. This method uses morphological pre-processing to decrease the disturbance of bright structures and lesions before vessel extraction. Next, a vessel probability map is generated by computing the eigenvalues of the second derivatives of Gaussian filtered image at multiple scales. Then, the second order local entropy thresholding is applied to segment the vessel map. Lastly, a rule-based decision step, which measures the geometric shape difference between vessels and lesions is applied to reduce false positives. The algorithm is evaluated on the low-resolution DRIVE and STARE databases and the publicly available high-resolution image database from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany). The proposed method achieved comparable performance to state of the art unsupervised vessel segmentation methods with a competitive faster speed on the DRIVE and STARE databases. For the high resolution fundus image database, the proposed algorithm outperforms an existing approach both on performance and speed. The efficiency and robustness make the blood vessel segmentation method described here suitable for broad application in automated analysis of retinal images.

Statistical Modeling of Retinal Optical Coherence Tomography.

PubMed

Amini, Zahra; Rabbani, Hossein

2016-06-01

In this paper, a new model for retinal Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images is proposed. This statistical model is based on introducing a nonlinear Gaussianization transform to convert the probability distribution function (pdf) of each OCT intra-retinal layer to a Gaussian distribution. The retina is a layered structure and in OCT each of these layers has a specific pdf which is corrupted by speckle noise, therefore a mixture model for statistical modeling of OCT images is proposed. A Normal-Laplace distribution, which is a convolution of a Laplace pdf and Gaussian noise, is proposed as the distribution of each component of this model. The reason for choosing Laplace pdf is the monotonically decaying behavior of OCT intensities in each layer for healthy cases. After fitting a mixture model to the data, each component is gaussianized and all of them are combined by Averaged Maximum A Posterior (AMAP) method. To demonstrate the ability of this method, a new contrast enhancement method based on this statistical model is proposed and tested on thirteen healthy 3D OCTs taken by the Topcon 3D OCT and five 3D OCTs from Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) patients, taken by Zeiss Cirrus HD-OCT. Comparing the results with two contending techniques, the prominence of the proposed method is demonstrated both visually and numerically. Furthermore, to prove the efficacy of the proposed method for a more direct and specific purpose, an improvement in the segmentation of intra-retinal layers using the proposed contrast enhancement method as a preprocessing step, is demonstrated.

Automatic detection of retinal anatomy to assist diabetic retinopathy screening.

PubMed

Fleming, Alan D; Goatman, Keith A; Philip, Sam; Olson, John A; Sharp, Peter F

2007-01-21

Screening programmes for diabetic retinopathy are being introduced in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. These require large numbers of retinal images to be manually graded for the presence of disease. Automation of image grading would have a number of benefits. However, an important prerequisite for automation is the accurate location of the main anatomical features in the image, notably the optic disc and the fovea. The locations of these features are necessary so that lesion significance, image field of view and image clarity can be assessed. This paper describes methods for the robust location of the optic disc and fovea. The elliptical form of the major retinal blood vessels is used to obtain approximate locations, which are refined based on the circular edge of the optic disc and the local darkening at the fovea. The methods have been tested on 1056 sequential images from a retinal screening programme. Positional accuracy was better than 0.5 of a disc diameter in 98.4% of cases for optic disc location, and in 96.5% of cases for fovea location. The methods are sufficiently accurate to form an important and effective component of an automated image grading system for diabetic retinopathy screening.

Automatic detection of retinal anatomy to assist diabetic retinopathy screening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fleming, Alan D.; Goatman, Keith A.; Philip, Sam; Olson, John A.; Sharp, Peter F.

2007-01-01

Screening programmes for diabetic retinopathy are being introduced in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. These require large numbers of retinal images to be manually graded for the presence of disease. Automation of image grading would have a number of benefits. However, an important prerequisite for automation is the accurate location of the main anatomical features in the image, notably the optic disc and the fovea. The locations of these features are necessary so that lesion significance, image field of view and image clarity can be assessed. This paper describes methods for the robust location of the optic disc and fovea. The elliptical form of the major retinal blood vessels is used to obtain approximate locations, which are refined based on the circular edge of the optic disc and the local darkening at the fovea. The methods have been tested on 1056 sequential images from a retinal screening programme. Positional accuracy was better than 0.5 of a disc diameter in 98.4% of cases for optic disc location, and in 96.5% of cases for fovea location. The methods are sufficiently accurate to form an important and effective component of an automated image grading system for diabetic retinopathy screening.

The Role of Fundus Autofluorescence in Late-Onset Retinitis Pigmentosa (LORP) Diagnosis

PubMed Central

Lee, Tamara J.; Hwang, John C.; Chen, Royce W. S.; Lima, Luiz H.; Wang, Nan-Kai; Tosi, Joaquin; Freund, K. Bailey; Yannuzzi, Lawrence A.; Tsang, Stephen H.

2015-01-01

Purpose To demonstrate the utility and characteristics of fundus autofluorescence in late-onset retinitis pigmentosa. Methods Observational case series. Patients diagnosed with late-onset retinitis pigmentosa were identified retrospectively in an institutional setting. Twelve eyes of six patients were identified and medical records were reviewed. Results All patients presented with slowly progressive peripheral field loss and initial clinical examination revealed only subtle retinal changes. There was a notable lack of intraretinal pigment migration in all patients. Five out of six patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain to rule out intracranial processes and all were referred from another ophthalmologist for further evaluation. Fundus autofluorescence was ultimately employed in all patients and revealed more extensive retinal pathology than initially appreciated on clinical examination. Fundus autofluorescence directed the workup toward a retinal etiology in all cases and led to the eventual diagnosis of late-onset retinitis pigmentosa through electroretinogram testing. Conclusion Fundus autofluorescence may be a more sensitive marker for retinal pathology than stereo fundus biomicroscopy alone in late-onset retinitis pigmentosa. Early use of fundus autofluorescence imaging in the evaluation of patients with subtle retinal lesions and complaints of peripheral field loss may be an effective strategy for timely and cost-efficient diagnosis. PMID:23899229

Retinal vascular and structural changes are associated with amyloid burden in the elderly: ophthalmic biomarkers of preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Golzan, S Mojtaba; Goozee, Kathryn; Georgevsky, Dana; Avolio, Alberto; Chatterjee, Pratishtha; Shen, Kaikai; Gupta, Vivek; Chung, Roger; Savage, Greg; Orr, Carolyn F; Martins, Ralph N; Graham, Stuart L

2017-03-01

Retinal imaging may serve as an alternative approach to monitor brain pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we investigated the association between retinal vascular and structural changes and cerebral amyloid-β (Aβ) plaque load in an elderly cohort. We studied a total of 101 participants, including 73 elderly subjects (79 ± 5 years, 22 male) with no clinical diagnosis of AD but reporting some subjective memory change and an additional 28 subjects (70 ± 9 years, 16 male) with clinically established AD. Following a complete dilated ocular examination, the amplitude of retinal vascular pulsations and dynamic response, retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and retinal ganglion cell layer (RGCL) thickness were determined in all patients. Systemic blood pressure and carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity were measured. The elderly cohort also underwent magnetic resonance imaging and 18 F-florbetaben (FBB)-positron emission tomographic amyloid imaging to measure neocortical Aβ standardised uptake value ratio (SUVR), and this was used to characterise a 'preclinical' group (SUVR >1.4). The mean FBB neocortical SUVR was 1.35 ± 0.3. The amplitude of retinal venous pulsations correlated negatively with the neocortical Aβ scores (p < 0.001), whereas the amplitude of retinal arterial pulsations correlated positively with neocortical Aβ scores (p < 0.01). RGCL thickness was significantly lower in the clinical AD group (p < 0.05). The correlation between retinal vascular changes and Aβ plaque load supports the possibility of a vascular component to AD. Dynamic retinal vascular parameters may provide an additional inexpensive tool to aid in the preclinical assessment of AD.

Celestial and terrestrial tele-ophthalmology: a health monitoring helmet for astronaut/cosmonaut and general public use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ansari, Rafat R.; Rovati, Luigi; Sebag, Jerry

2001-06-01

A goggles-like head-mounted device equipped with several non-invasive techniques for quantitative medical evaluation of the eye, skin, and brain is envisioned for monitoring the health of astronauts and cosmonauts during long-term space travel and exploration. Real-time non-invasive evaluation of the different structures within these organs will provide indices of the health of these organs, as well as the entire body. The techniques such as dynamic light scattering (for the early detection of cataracts to evaluate effects of cosmic radiation), corneal autofluorescence (to assess extracellular matrix biology (e.g., diabetes), optical polarization (of aqueous fluid to evaluate serum chemistry), laser Doppler velocimetry (of retinal, optic nerve, and choroidal blood flow to assess ocular as well as central nervous system blood flow), reflectometry/oximetry (for oxygen metabolism), optical coherence tomography (for retinal microstructure), and possibility scanning laser technology for intraocular imaging and scanning will be integrated into this compact device.

Association of progressive outer retinal necrosis and varicella zoster encephalitis in a patient with AIDS.

PubMed Central

van den Horn, G J; Meenken, C; Troost, D

1996-01-01

BACKGROUND: A patient with AIDS who developed the clinical picture of bilateral progressive outer retinal necrosis (PORN) in combination with varicella zoster encephalitis is described. The picture developed more than 2 years after an episode of ophthalmic zoster infection, and following intermittent exposure to oral acyclovir because of recurrent episodes of cutaneous herpes simplex infection. METHODS: Aqueous humour, obtained by paracentesis of the anterior chamber, was analysed using immunofluorescence and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Postmortem analysis of eye and brain tissue was performed by using conventional techniques and in situ hybridisation. RESULTS: While conventional techniques all failed to detect a causative agent, analysis of the aqueous humour using PCR, and histological examination of necropsy specimens from eyes and brain using in situ hybridisation were conclusive for the diagnosis varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection. CONCLUSION: This case documents the presumed association of PORN and VZV encephalitis in a severely immunocompromised AIDS patient. Images PMID:8976726

Retinal patching: a new approach to the management of selected retinal breaks.

PubMed

Gilbert, C E; Grierson, I; McLeod, D

1989-01-01

Restoration of retinal continuity by a patching technique is proposed as a new means of treating selected rhegmatogenous retinal detachments where established techniques frequently fail. The patch consists of a substrate and adhesive applied to the inner surface of the retina surrounding the retinal break. Bovine eye cup experiments have been performed to explore the effectiveness of a range of adhesives, and cyanoacrylates and Tisseel have been found to be effective. Studies of these adhesives on confluent cultures of bovine retinal pigment epithelial cells and glia revealed temporary cyanoacrylate toxicity and stimulation of proliferation by Tisseel. Substrate biocompatability was investigated by observing the growth of cells on various substrates in tissue culture; biological substrates such as lens capsule supported cell growth whereas synthetic membranes only did so if pretreated with fibronectin.

Molecular diagnosis and ocular imaging of West Nile virus retinitis and neuroretinitis.

PubMed

Sivakumar, Rathinam R; Prajna, Lalitha; Arya, Lalan Kumar; Muraly, Praveen; Shukla, Jyoti; Saxena, Divyasha; Parida, Manmohan

2013-09-01

To describe the ocular features of West Nile virus (WNV) infection proven by serology and molecular diagnostic techniques. Prospective case series. Fifty-two patients who presented to the uveitis clinic with ocular inflammatory signs and history of fever preceding ocular symptoms between January 2010 and January 2012 were enrolled for laboratory diagnosis. Serum samples were collected from 30 healthy controls from the same geographic area. Patients were tested for all endemic infectious diseases that can cause ocular inflammation by serology or molecular diagnostics. When patients had positive antibodies for WNV, serum/plasma samples were tested by real-time reverse transcription (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and RT loop-mediated isothermal gene amplification assays. The PCR product was subjected to nucleotide sequencing. Fundus fluorescence angiography (FFA), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and indocyanine green angiography were performed. Visual prognosis was analyzed. Clinical signs (retinitis, neuroretinitis, and choroiditis) and ocular complications (decrease in vision). A total of 37 of 52 patients (71%) showed positive results for at least 2 laboratory tests for WNV. Fundus examination revealed discrete, superficial, white retinitis; arteritis; phlebitis; and retinal hemorrhages with or without macular star. The FFA revealed areas of retinal inflammation with indistinct borders, vascular and optic disc leakage, vessel wall staining, or capillary nonperfusion. Indocyanine green angiography confirmed choroidal inflammation in 1 of the patients who was diabetic. The OCT scan of the macula revealed inner retinal layer edema in active inflammation and retinal atrophy in late stage. At the final visit, 43% of patients had visual acuity better than 6/12. In addition to previously reported clinical signs, retinitis, neuroretinitis, and retinal vasculitis were seen in this population. Atrophy of the inner retinal layer was seen on OCT after resolution of inflammation. Visual prognosis was good in patients with focal retinitis and poor in patients with occlusive vasculitis. The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article. Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Long-term changes in retinal contrast sensitivity in chicks from frosted occluders and drugs: relations to myopia?

PubMed

Diether, S; Schaeffel, F

1999-07-01

Experiments in animal models have shown that the retinal analyzes the image to identify the position of the plane of focus and fine-tunes the growth of the underlying sclera. It is fundamental to the understanding of the development of refractive errors to know which image features are processed. Since the position of the image plane fluctuates continuously with accommodative status and viewing distance, a meaningful control of refractive development can only occur by an averaging procedure with a long time constant. As a candidate for a retinal signal for enhanced eye growth and myopia we propose the level of contrast adaptation which varies with the average amount of defocus. Using a behavioural paradigm, we have found in chickens (1) that contrast adaptation (CA, here referred to as an increase in contrast sensitivity) occurs at low spatial frequencies (0.2 cyc/deg) already after 1.5 h of wearing frosted goggles which cause deprivation myopia, (2) that CA also occurs with negative lenses (-7.4D) and positive lenses (+6.9D) after 1.5 h, at least if accommodation is paralyzed and, (3) that CA occurs at a retinal level or has, at least, a retinal component. Furthermore, we have studied the effects of atropine and reserpine, which both suppress myopia development, on CA. Quisqualate, which causes retinal degeneration but leaves emmetropization functional, was also tested. We found that both atropine and reserpine increase contrast sensitivity to a level where no further CA could be induced by frosted goggles. Quisqualate increased only the variability of refractive development and of contrast sensitivity. Taken together, CA occurring during extended periods of defocus is a possible candidate for a retinal error signal for myopia development. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that there must be a second image processing mode generating a powerful inhibitory growth signal if the image is in front of the retina, even with poor images (Diether, S., & Schaeffel, F. (1999).

A technique of experimental and numerical analysis of influence of defects in the intraocular lens on the retinal image quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geniusz, Malwina; ZajÄ c, Marek

2016-09-01

Intraocular lens (IOL) is an artificial lens implanted into the eye in order to restore correct vision after the removal of natural lens cloudy due to cataract. The IOL prolonged stay in the eyeball causes the creation of different changes on the surface and inside the implant mainly in form of small-size local defects such as vacuoles and calcium deposites. Their presence worsens the imaging properties of the eye mainly due to occurence of scattered light thus deteriorating the vision quality of patients after cataract surgery. It is very difficult to study influence the effects of these changes on image quality in real patients. To avoid these difficulties two other possibilities were chosen: the analysis of the image obtained in an optomechanical eye model with artificially aged IOL as well as numerical calculation of the image characteristics while the eye lens is burdened with adequately modeled defects. In experiments the optomechanical model of an eye consisting of a glass "cornea", chamber filled with liquid where the IOL under investigation was inserted and a high resulution CCC detector serving as a "retina" was used. The Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) of such "eye" was evaluated on the basis of image of an edge. Experiments show that there is significant connection between ageing defects and decrease in MTF parameters. Numerical part was performed with a computer programme for optical imaging analysis (OpticStudio Professional, Zemax Professional from Radiant Zemax, LLC). On the basis of Atchison eye model with lens burdened with defects Modulation Transfer Functio was calculated. Particular parameters of defects used in a numerical model were based on own measurements. Numerical simulation also show significant connection between ageing defects and decrease of MTF parameters. With this technique the influence of types, density and distribution of local defect in the IOL on the retinal image quality can be evaluated quickly without the need of performing very difficult and even dangereous experiments on real human patients.

Profile and Determinants of Retinal Optical Intensity in Normal Eyes with Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography.

PubMed

Chen, Binyao; Gao, Enting; Chen, Haoyu; Yang, Jianling; Shi, Fei; Zheng, Ce; Zhu, Weifang; Xiang, Dehui; Chen, Xinjian; Zhang, Mingzhi

2016-01-01

To investigate the profile and determinants of retinal optical intensity in normal subjects using 3D spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD OCT). A total of 231 eyes from 231 healthy subjects ranging in age from 18 to 80 years were included and underwent a 3D OCT scan. Forty-four eyes were randomly chosen to be scanned by two operators for reproducibility analysis. Distribution of optical intensity of each layer and regions specified by the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) were investigated by analyzing the OCT raw data with our automatic graph-based algorithm. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed between retinal optical intensity and sex, age, height, weight, spherical equivalent (SE), axial length, image quality, disc area and rim/disc area ratio (R/D area ratio). For optical intensity measurements, the intraclass correlation coefficient of each layer ranged from 0.815 to 0.941, indicating good reproducibility. Optical intensity was lowest in the central area of retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell layer, inner plexiform layer, inner nuclear layer, outer plexiform layer and photoreceptor layer, except for the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Optical intensity was positively correlated with image quality in all retinal layers (0.553<β<0.851, p<0.01), and negatively correlated with age in most retinal layers (-0.362<β<-0.179, p<0.01), except for the RPE (β = 0.456, p<0.01), outer nuclear layer and photoreceptor layer (p>0.05). There was no relationship between retinal optical intensity and sex, height, weight, SE, axial length, disc area and R/D area ratio. There was a specific pattern of distribution of retinal optical intensity in different regions. The optical intensity was affected by image quality and age. Image quality can be used as a reference for normalization. The effect of age needs to be taken into consideration when using OCT for diagnosis.

Live-cell imaging: new avenues to investigate retinal regeneration

PubMed Central

Lahne, Manuela; Hyde, David R.

2017-01-01

Sensing and responding to our environment requires functional neurons that act in concert. Neuronal cell loss resulting from degenerative diseases cannot be replaced in humans, causing a functional impairment to integrate and/or respond to sensory cues. In contrast, zebrafish (Danio rerio) possess an endogenous capacity to regenerate lost neurons. Here, we will focus on the processes that lead to neuronal regeneration in the zebrafish retina. Dying retinal neurons release a damage signal, tumor necrosis factor α, which induces the resident radial glia, the Müller glia, to reprogram and re-enter the cell cycle. The Müller glia divide asymmetrically to produce a Müller glia that exits the cell cycle and a neuronal progenitor cell. The arising neuronal progenitor cells undergo several rounds of cell divisions before they migrate to the site of damage to differentiate into the neuronal cell types that were lost. Molecular and immunohistochemical studies have predominantly provided insight into the mechanisms that regulate retinal regeneration. However, many processes during retinal regeneration are dynamic and require live-cell imaging to fully discern the underlying mechanisms. Recently, a multiphoton imaging approach of adult zebrafish retinal cultures was developed. We will discuss the use of live-cell imaging, the currently available tools and those that need to be developed to advance our knowledge on major open questions in the field of retinal regeneration. PMID:28966629

Live-cell imaging: new avenues to investigate retinal regeneration.

PubMed

Lahne, Manuela; Hyde, David R

2017-08-01

Sensing and responding to our environment requires functional neurons that act in concert. Neuronal cell loss resulting from degenerative diseases cannot be replaced in humans, causing a functional impairment to integrate and/or respond to sensory cues. In contrast, zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) possess an endogenous capacity to regenerate lost neurons. Here, we will focus on the processes that lead to neuronal regeneration in the zebrafish retina. Dying retinal neurons release a damage signal, tumor necrosis factor α, which induces the resident radial glia, the Müller glia, to reprogram and re-enter the cell cycle. The Müller glia divide asymmetrically to produce a Müller glia that exits the cell cycle and a neuronal progenitor cell. The arising neuronal progenitor cells undergo several rounds of cell divisions before they migrate to the site of damage to differentiate into the neuronal cell types that were lost. Molecular and immunohistochemical studies have predominantly provided insight into the mechanisms that regulate retinal regeneration. However, many processes during retinal regeneration are dynamic and require live-cell imaging to fully discern the underlying mechanisms. Recently, a multiphoton imaging approach of adult zebrafish retinal cultures was developed. We will discuss the use of live-cell imaging, the currently available tools and those that need to be developed to advance our knowledge on major open questions in the field of retinal regeneration.

78 FR 24756 - Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-26

...; Availability for Licensing AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, HHS. ACTION: Notice... chelators. Potential Commercial Applications: Cancer imaging. PET imaging. ImmunoPET. Competitive Advantages... crucial role in retinal physiology by forming a blood- retinal barrier and closely interacting with...

Quantitative phase imaging of retinal cells (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LaForest, Timothé; Carpentras, Dino; Kowalczuk, Laura; Behar-Cohen, Francine; Moser, Christophe

2017-02-01

Vision process is ruled by several cells layers of the retina. Before reaching the photoreceptors, light entering the eye has to pass through a few hundreds of micrometers thick layer of ganglion and neurons cells. Macular degeneration is a non-curable disease of themacula occurring with age. This disease can be diagnosed at an early stage by imaging neuronal cells in the retina and observing their death chronically. These cells are phase objects locatedon a background that presents an absorption pattern and so difficult to see with standard imagingtechniques in vivo. Phase imaging methods usually need the illumination system to be on the opposite side of the sample with respect to theimaging system. This is a constraintand a challenge for phase imaging in-vivo. Recently, the possibility of performing phase contrast imaging from one side using properties of scattering media has been shown. This phase contrast imaging is based on the back illumination generated by the sample itself. Here, we present a reflection phase imaging technique based on oblique back-illumination. The oblique back-illumination creates a dark field image of the sample. Generating asymmetric oblique illumination allows obtaining differential phase contrast image, which in turn can be processed to recover a quantitative phase image. In the case of the eye, a transcleral illumination can generate oblique incident light on the retina and the choroidal layer.The back reflected light is then collected by the eye lens to produce dark field image. We show experimental results of retinal phase imagesin ex vivo samples of human and pig retina.

Quantification of the progression of CMV infection as observed from retinal angiograms in patients with AIDS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brahmi, Djamel; Cassoux, Nathalie; Serruys, Camille; Giron, Alain; Lehoang, Phuc; Fertil, Bernard

1999-05-01

To support ophthalmologists in their daily routine and enable the quantitative assessment of progression of Cytomegalovirus infection as observed on series of retinal angiograms, a methodology allowing an accurate comparison of retinal borders has been developed. In order to evaluate accuracy of borders, ophthalmologists have been asked to repeatedly outline boundaries between infected and noninfected areas. As a matter of fact, accuracy of drawing relies on local features such as contrast, quality of image, background..., all factors which make the boundaries more or less perceptible from one part of an image to another. In order to directly estimate accuracy of retinal border from image analysis, an artificial neural network (a succession of unsupervised and supervised neural networks) has been designed to correlate accuracy of drawing (as calculated form ophthalmologists' hand-outlines) with local features of the underlying image. Our method has been applied to the quantification of CMV retinitis. It is shown that accuracy of border is properly predicted and characterized by a confident envelope that allows, after a registration phase based on fixed landmarks such as vessel forks, to accurately assess the evolution of CMV infection.

Retinal Structure Measurements as Inclusion Criteria for Stem Cell-Based Therapies of Retinal Degenerations.

PubMed

Jacobson, Samuel G; Matsui, Rodrigo; Sumaroka, Alexander; Cideciyan, Artur V

2016-04-01

We reviewed and illustrated the most optimal retinal structural measurements to make in stem cell clinical trials. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and autofluorescence (AF) imaging were used to evaluate patients with severe visual loss from nonsyndromic and syndromic retinitis pigmentosa (RP), ABCA4-Stargardt disease, and nonneovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Outer nuclear layer (ONL), rod outer segment (ROS) layer, inner retina, ganglion cell layer (GCL), and nerve fiber layer (NFL) thicknesses were quantified. All patients had severely reduced visual acuities. Retinitis pigmentosa patients had limited visual fields; maculopathy patients had central scotomas with retained peripheral function. For the forms of RP illustrated, there was detectable albeit severely reduced ONL across the scanned retina, and normal or hyperthick GCL and NFL. Maculopathy patients had no measurable ONL centrally; it became detectable with eccentricity. Some maculopathy patients showed unexpected GCL losses. Autofluorescence imaging illustrated central losses of RPE integrity. A hypothetical scheme to relate patient data with different phases of retinal remodeling in animal models of retinal degeneration was presented. Stem cell science is advancing, but it is not too early to open the discussion of criteria for patient selection and monitoring. Available clinical tools, such as OCT and AF imaging, can provide inclusion/exclusion criteria and robust objective outcomes. Accepting that early trials may not lead to miraculous cures, we should be prepared to know why-scientifically and clinically-so we can improve subsequent trials. We also must determine if retinal remodeling is an impediment to efficacy.

Toward high-resolution optoelectronic retinal prosthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palanker, Daniel; Huie, Philip; Vankov, Alexander; Asher, Alon; Baccus, Steven

2005-04-01

It has been already demonstrated that electrical stimulation of retina can produce visual percepts in blind patients suffering from macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Current retinal implants provide very low resolution (just a few electrodes), while several thousand pixels are required for functional restoration of sight. We present a design of the optoelectronic retinal prosthetic system that can activate a retinal stimulating array with pixel density up to 2,500 pix/mm2 (geometrically corresponding to a visual acuity of 20/80), and allows for natural eye scanning rather than scanning with a head-mounted camera. The system operates similarly to "virtual reality" imaging devices used in military and medical applications. An image from a video camera is projected by a goggle-mounted infrared LED-LCD display onto the retina, activating an array of powered photodiodes in the retinal implant. Such a system provides a broad field of vision by allowing for natural eye scanning. The goggles are transparent to visible light, thus allowing for simultaneous utilization of remaining natural vision along with prosthetic stimulation. Optical control of the implant allows for simple adjustment of image processing algorithms and for learning. A major prerequisite for high resolution stimulation is the proximity of neural cells to the stimulation sites. This can be achieved with sub-retinal implants constructed in a manner that directs migration of retinal cells to target areas. Two basic implant geometries are described: perforated membranes and protruding electrode arrays. Possibility of the tactile neural stimulation is also examined.

Screening retinal transplants with Fourier-domain OCT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, Bin

2009-02-01

Transplant technologies have been studied for the recovery of vision loss from retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In several rodent retinal degeneration models and in patients, retinal progenitor cells transplanted as layers to the subretinal space have been shown to restore or preserve vision. The methods for evaluation of transplants are expensive considering the large amount of animals. Alternatively, time-domain Stratus OCT was previously shown to be able to image the morphological structure of transplants to some extent, but could not clearly identify laminated transplants. The efficacy of screening retinal transplants with Fourier-domain OCT was studied on 37 S334ter line 3 rats with retinal degeneration 6-67 days after transplant surgery. The transplants were morphologically categorized as no transplant, detachment, rosettes, small laminated area and larger laminated area with both Fourier-domain OCT and histology. The efficacy of Fourier-domain OCT in screening retinal transplants was evaluated by comparing the categorization results with OCT and histology. Additionally, 4 rats were randomly selected for multiple OCT examinations (1, 5, 9, 14 and 21days post surgery) in order to determine the earliest image time of OCT examination since the transplanted tissue may need some time to show its tendency of growing. Finally, we demonstrated the efficacy of Fourier-domain OCT in screening retinal transplants in early stages and determined the earliest imaging time for OCT. Fourier-domain OCT makes itself valuable in saving resource spent on animals with unsuccessful transplants.

Age-Related Alterations in the Retinal Microvasculature, Microcirculation, and Microstructure.

PubMed

Wei, Yantao; Jiang, Hong; Shi, Yingying; Qu, Dongyi; Gregori, Giovanni; Zheng, Fang; Rundek, Tatjana; Wang, Jianhua

2017-07-01

To characterize age-related alterations in the retinal microcirculation, microvascular network, and microstructure in healthy subjects. Seventy-four healthy subjects aged from 18 to 82 years were recruited and divided into four age groups (G1 with age <35 years, G2 with age 35 ∼ 49 years, G3 with age 50 ∼ 64 years, and G4 with age ≥65 years). Custom ultra-high resolution optical coherence tomography (UHR-OCT) was used to acquire six intraretinal layers of the macula. OCT angiography (OCTA) was used to image the retinal microvascular network. The retinal blood flow velocity (BFV) was measured using a Retinal Function Imager (RFI). Compared to G1, G2 had significant thinning of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) (P < 0.05), while G3 had thinning of the RNFL and ganglion cell and inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) (P < 0.05), in addition to thickening of the outer plexiform layer (OPL) and photoreceptor layer (PR) (P < 0.05). G4 had loss in retinal vessel density, thinning in RNFL and GCIPL, and decrease in venular BFV, in addition to thickening of the OPL and PR (P < 0.05). Age was negatively related to retinal vessel densities, the inner retinal layers, and venular BFV (P < 0.05). By contrast, age was positively related to OPL and PR (P < 0.05). During aging, decreases in retinal vessel density, inner retinal layer thickness, and venular BFV were evident and impacted each other as observed by simultaneous changes in multiple retinal components.

Improving image segmentation performance and quantitative analysis via a computer-aided grading methodology for optical coherence tomography retinal image analysis.

PubMed

Debuc, Delia Cabrera; Salinas, Harry M; Ranganathan, Sudarshan; Tátrai, Erika; Gao, Wei; Shen, Meixiao; Wang, Jianhua; Somfai, Gábor M; Puliafito, Carmen A

2010-01-01

We demonstrate quantitative analysis and error correction of optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal images by using a custom-built, computer-aided grading methodology. A total of 60 Stratus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California) B-scans collected from ten normal healthy eyes are analyzed by two independent graders. The average retinal thickness per macular region is compared with the automated Stratus OCT results. Intergrader and intragrader reproducibility is calculated by Bland-Altman plots of the mean difference between both gradings and by Pearson correlation coefficients. In addition, the correlation between Stratus OCT and our methodology-derived thickness is also presented. The mean thickness difference between Stratus OCT and our methodology is 6.53 microm and 26.71 microm when using the inner segment/outer segment (IS/OS) junction and outer segment/retinal pigment epithelium (OS/RPE) junction as the outer retinal border, respectively. Overall, the median of the thickness differences as a percentage of the mean thickness is less than 1% and 2% for the intragrader and intergrader reproducibility test, respectively. The measurement accuracy range of the OCT retinal image analysis (OCTRIMA) algorithm is between 0.27 and 1.47 microm and 0.6 and 1.76 microm for the intragrader and intergrader reproducibility tests, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients demonstrate R(2)>0.98 for all Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) regions. Our methodology facilitates a more robust and localized quantification of the retinal structure in normal healthy controls and patients with clinically significant intraretinal features.

Improving image segmentation performance and quantitative analysis via a computer-aided grading methodology for optical coherence tomography retinal image analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cabrera Debuc, Delia; Salinas, Harry M.; Ranganathan, Sudarshan; Tátrai, Erika; Gao, Wei; Shen, Meixiao; Wang, Jianhua; Somfai, Gábor M.; Puliafito, Carmen A.

2010-07-01

We demonstrate quantitative analysis and error correction of optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal images by using a custom-built, computer-aided grading methodology. A total of 60 Stratus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California) B-scans collected from ten normal healthy eyes are analyzed by two independent graders. The average retinal thickness per macular region is compared with the automated Stratus OCT results. Intergrader and intragrader reproducibility is calculated by Bland-Altman plots of the mean difference between both gradings and by Pearson correlation coefficients. In addition, the correlation between Stratus OCT and our methodology-derived thickness is also presented. The mean thickness difference between Stratus OCT and our methodology is 6.53 μm and 26.71 μm when using the inner segment/outer segment (IS/OS) junction and outer segment/retinal pigment epithelium (OS/RPE) junction as the outer retinal border, respectively. Overall, the median of the thickness differences as a percentage of the mean thickness is less than 1% and 2% for the intragrader and intergrader reproducibility test, respectively. The measurement accuracy range of the OCT retinal image analysis (OCTRIMA) algorithm is between 0.27 and 1.47 μm and 0.6 and 1.76 μm for the intragrader and intergrader reproducibility tests, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients demonstrate R2>0.98 for all Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) regions. Our methodology facilitates a more robust and localized quantification of the retinal structure in normal healthy controls and patients with clinically significant intraretinal features.

A tool for computer-aided diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Zheen; Wallace, David K.; Freedman, Sharon F.; Aylward, Stephen R.

2008-03-01

In this paper we present improvements to a software application, named ROPtool, that aids in the timely and accurate detection and diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). ROP occurs in 68% of infants less than 1251 grams at birth, and it is a leading cause of blindness for prematurely born infants. The standard of care for its diagnosis is the subjective assessment of retinal vessel dilation and tortuosity. There is significant inter-observer variation in those assessments. ROPtool analyzes retinal images, extracts user-selected blood vessels from those images, and quantifies the tortuosity of those vessels. The presence of ROP is then gauged by comparing the tortuosity of an infant's retinal vessels with measures made from a clinical-standard image of severely tortuous retinal vessels. The presence of such tortuous retinal vessels is referred to as 'plus disease'. In this paper, a novel metric of tortuosity is proposed. From the ophthalmologist's point of view, the new metric is an improvement from our previously published algorithm, since it uses smooth curves instead of straight lines to simulate 'normal vessels'. Another advantage of the new ROPtool is that minimal user interactions are required. ROPtool utilizes a ridge traversal algorithm to extract retinal vessels. The algorithm reconstructs connectivity along a vessel automatically. This paper supports its claims by reporting ROC curves from a pilot study involving 20 retinal images. The areas under two ROC curves, from two experts in ROP, using the new metric to diagnose 'tortuosity sufficient for plus disease', varied from 0.86 to 0.91.

Noninvasive imaging of the human rod photoreceptor mosaic using a confocal adaptive optics scanning ophthalmoscope

PubMed Central

Dubra, Alfredo; Sulai, Yusufu; Norris, Jennifer L.; Cooper, Robert F.; Dubis, Adam M.; Williams, David R.; Carroll, Joseph

2011-01-01

The rod photoreceptors are implicated in a number of devastating retinal diseases. However, routine imaging of these cells has remained elusive, even with the advent of adaptive optics imaging. Here, we present the first in vivo images of the contiguous rod photoreceptor mosaic in nine healthy human subjects. The images were collected with three different confocal adaptive optics scanning ophthalmoscopes at two different institutions, using 680 and 775 nm superluminescent diodes for illumination. Estimates of photoreceptor density and rod:cone ratios in the 5°–15° retinal eccentricity range are consistent with histological findings, confirming our ability to resolve the rod mosaic by averaging multiple registered images, without the need for additional image processing. In one subject, we were able to identify the emergence of the first rods at approximately 190 μm from the foveal center, in agreement with previous histological studies. The rod and cone photoreceptor mosaics appear in focus at different retinal depths, with the rod mosaic best focus (i.e., brightest and sharpest) being at least 10 μm shallower than the cones at retinal eccentricities larger than 8°. This study represents an important step in bringing high-resolution imaging to bear on the study of rod disorders. PMID:21750765

Telemedicine screening for cytomegalovirus retinitis at the point of care for human immunodeficiency virus infection.

PubMed

Jirawison, Choeng; Yen, Michael; Leenasirimakul, Prattana; Chen, Jenny; Guadanant, Siripim; Kunavisarut, Paradee; Patikulsila, Direk; Watanachai, Nawat; Ausayakhun, Somsanguan; Heiden, David; Holland, Gary N; Margolis, Todd P; Keenan, Jeremy D

2015-02-01

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis is a leading cause of blindness in many developing countries, likely the result of inadequate screening. Telemedicine screening for CMV retinitis instituted at the point of care for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection may allow for earlier detection. To determine the diagnostic accuracy of retinal photography in detecting CMV retinitis at the point of HIV care and to characterize the clinical manifestations of CMV retinitis detected through the screening program. We enrolled 103 participants from a population of 258 patients with HIV and a CD4 level of less than 100/μL treated at an HIV clinic in Thailand from June 2010 through June 2012. We captured mosaic fundus photographs through a dilated pupil using a digital fundus camera. An experienced on-site ophthalmologist masked to the results of the fundus images subsequently examined each eye with indirect ophthalmoscopy and recorded the clinical findings on a standardized form. Three remote graders evaluated each image for CMV retinitis. Fundus photography and indirect ophthalmoscopy. Sensitivity and specificity of telemedicine relative to indirect ophthalmoscopy for diagnosis of CMV retinitis and clinical features of CMV retinitis lesions. Sixteen patients (15.5%) were diagnosed as having CMV retinitis, of whom 5 (31%) had bilateral disease. Of the 21 eyes (10.2%) with CMV retinitis, 7 (33%) had visual symptoms. Retinitis lesions occupied less than 10% of the total retinal surface area in 13 of 21 eyes (62%) and did not involve the posterior pole (ie, zone 1) in 15 of 21 eyes (71%). Mean logMAR visual acuity in affected eyes was 0.41 (95% CI, 0.11-0.71; Snellen equivalent, 20/50 [95% CI, 20/25-20/100]). The mean sensitivity for the 3 remote graders in detecting CMV retinitis on fundus photography was 30.2% (95% CI, 10.5%-52.4%), and mean specificity was 99.1% (95% CI, 97.8%-100.0%). The CMV retinitis lesions missed by the remote graders (false-negative findings) were more likely to be small (P = .001) and located in the peripheral retina (P = .04). Patients undergoing screening at a clinic for HIV treatment had less extensive retinitis than patients in recent reports from an ophthalmology clinic. Retinal photography with the camera used in this study was not highly sensitive in detecting CMV retinitis but may identify disease with an immediate threat to vision. Improved accuracy will require a camera that can more easily image the peripheral retina.

Eye-pupil displacement and prediction: effects on residual wavefront in adaptive optics retinal imaging

PubMed Central

Kulcsár, Caroline; Raynaud, Henri-François; Garcia-Rissmann, Aurea

2016-01-01

This paper studies the effect of pupil displacements on the best achievable performance of retinal imaging adaptive optics (AO) systems, using 52 trajectories of horizontal and vertical displacements sampled at 80 Hz by a pupil tracker (PT) device on 13 different subjects. This effect is quantified in the form of minimal root mean square (rms) of the residual phase affecting image formation, as a function of the delay between PT measurement and wavefront correction. It is shown that simple dynamic models identified from data can be used to predict horizontal and vertical pupil displacements with greater accuracy (in terms of average rms) over short-term time horizons. The potential impact of these improvements on residual wavefront rms is investigated. These results allow to quantify the part of disturbances corrected by retinal imaging systems that are caused by relative displacements of an otherwise fixed or slowy-varying subject-dependent aberration. They also suggest that prediction has a limited impact on wavefront rms and that taking into account PT measurements in real time improves the performance of AO retinal imaging systems. PMID:27231607

Optical coherence tomography of the eye

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hee, Michael Richard

1997-10-01

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a new technique for high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging of tissue in which the time-of-flight delay of light reflected from internal tissue structures is resolved with high precision using interferometry. Tomographic images are obtained which are analogous to those provided by ultrasound except that image contrast relies on differences in optical rather than acoustic properties of tissue. The use of light rather than sound enables higher resolution (10 μm) and non-contact imaging. A clinically viable high-sensitivity, fiber-optic based OCT instrument has been constructed based on engineering principles derived from optical communication theory. Computer algorithms have also been developed for quantitative image analysis and restoration. OCT has been used to image patients with a variety of ocular diseases. In patients with macular pathology, OCT images have been correlated with conventional clinical examination and fluorescein angiography. Optical coherence tomograms are effective in staging macular holes, evaluating the vitreoretinal interface in eyes at risk for a macular hole, and providing a structural assessment of macular hole surgery. In eyes with central serous chorioretinopathy, OCT can evaluate sensory retinal separations undetected at the slit-lamp. Serial OCT images of macular edema are able to track both the progression of macular thickening and the resolution of macular edema following laser photocoagulation. In patients with diabetic retinopathy, measurements of macular thickness correlate with visual acuity and OCT is more sensitive to small changes in retinal thickness than slit-lamp biomicroscopy. OCT may provide a novel method of defining occult choroidal neovascular membranes in patients with age-related macular degeneration. OCT can also profile the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer with high resolution which is potentially important for the objective assessment of early glaucoma progression. OCT images have been correlated with visual field performance and optic nerve appearance in a cross- section of patients with various stages of glaucoma. These studies suggest that OCT has the potential to become an important diagnostic tool for the practicing ophthalmologist. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)

Automatic optimization high-speed high-resolution OCT retinal imaging at 1μm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cua, Michelle; Liu, Xiyun; Miao, Dongkai; Lee, Sujin; Lee, Sieun; Bonora, Stefano; Zawadzki, Robert J.; Mackenzie, Paul J.; Jian, Yifan; Sarunic, Marinko V.

2015-03-01

High-resolution OCT retinal imaging is important in providing visualization of various retinal structures to aid researchers in better understanding the pathogenesis of vision-robbing diseases. However, conventional optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems have a trade-off between lateral resolution and depth-of-focus. In this report, we present the development of a focus-stacking optical coherence tomography (OCT) system with automatic optimization for high-resolution, extended-focal-range clinical retinal imaging. A variable-focus liquid lens was added to correct for de-focus in real-time. A GPU-accelerated segmentation and optimization was used to provide real-time layer-specific enface visualization as well as depth-specific focus adjustment. After optimization, multiple volumes focused at different depths were acquired, registered, and stitched together to yield a single, high-resolution focus-stacked dataset. Using this system, we show high-resolution images of the ONH, from which we extracted clinically-relevant parameters such as the nerve fiber layer thickness and lamina cribrosa microarchitecture.

Rapid and coordinated processing of global motion images by local clusters of retinal ganglion cells.

PubMed

Matsumoto, Akihiro; Tachibana, Masao

2017-01-01

Even when the body is stationary, the whole retinal image is always in motion by fixational eye movements and saccades that move the eye between fixation points. Accumulating evidence indicates that the brain is equipped with specific mechanisms for compensating for the global motion induced by these eye movements. However, it is not yet fully understood how the retina processes global motion images during eye movements. Here we show that global motion images evoke novel coordinated firing in retinal ganglion cells (GCs). We simultaneously recorded the firing of GCs in the goldfish isolated retina using a multi-electrode array, and classified each GC based on the temporal profile of its receptive field (RF). A moving target that accompanied the global motion (simulating a saccade following a period of fixational eye movements) modulated the RF properties and evoked synchronized and correlated firing among local clusters of the specific GCs. Our findings provide a novel concept for retinal information processing during eye movements.

Quantitative Assessment of Retinopathy Using Multi-parameter Image Analysis

PubMed Central

Ghanian, Zahra; Staniszewski, Kevin; Jamali, Nasim; Sepehr, Reyhaneh; Wang, Shoujian; Sorenson, Christine M.; Sheibani, Nader; Ranji, Mahsa

2016-01-01

A multi-parameter quantification method was implemented to quantify retinal vascular injuries in microscopic images of clinically relevant eye diseases. This method was applied to wholemount retinal trypsin digest images of diabetic Akita/+, and bcl-2 knocked out mice models. Five unique features of retinal vasculature were extracted to monitor early structural changes and retinopathy, as well as quantifying the disease progression. Our approach was validated through simulations of retinal images. Results showed fewer number of cells (P = 5.1205e-05), greater population ratios of endothelial cells to pericytes (PCs) (P = 5.1772e-04; an indicator of PC loss), higher fractal dimension (P = 8.2202e-05), smaller vessel coverage (P = 1.4214e-05), and greater number of acellular capillaries (P = 7.0414e-04) for diabetic retina as compared to normal retina. Quantification using the present method would be helpful in evaluating physiological and pathological retinopathy in a high-throughput and reproducible manner. PMID:27186534

Adaptation to Skew Distortions of Natural Scenes and Retinal Specificity of Its Aftereffects

PubMed Central

Habtegiorgis, Selam W.; Rifai, Katharina; Lappe, Markus; Wahl, Siegfried

2017-01-01

Image skew is one of the prominent distortions that exist in optical elements, such as in spectacle lenses. The present study evaluates adaptation to image skew in dynamic natural images. Moreover, the cortical levels involved in skew coding were probed using retinal specificity of skew adaptation aftereffects. Left and right skewed natural image sequences were shown to observers as adapting stimuli. The point of subjective equality (PSE), i.e., the skew amplitude in simple geometrical patterns that is perceived to be unskewed, was used to quantify the aftereffect of each adapting skew direction. The PSE, in a two-alternative forced choice paradigm, shifted toward the adapting skew direction. Moreover, significant adaptation aftereffects were obtained not only at adapted, but also at non-adapted retinal locations during fixation. Skew adaptation information was transferred partially to non-adapted retinal locations. Thus, adaptation to skewed natural scenes induces coordinated plasticity in lower and higher cortical areas of the visual pathway. PMID:28751870