Optical Coherence Tomography in Ophthalmic Applications

摘要

Image resolution, tissue penetration, and scan speed are among the most important parameters when designing an OCT system for ophthalmic use. Human retinal tissue is highly reflective in the near infrared spectrum range. A SLD at 820nm with 25nm FWHM spectral bandwidth provides 10um coherence length in retinal tissue. Its appropriate power level, simplicity of use, high resolution, and relatively low cost, make the 820nm SLD the best choice light source for retinal OCT. A 1300nm SLD can penetrate deeper into the sclera tissue and since the 1300nm wavelength is highly absorbed in the vitreous, the ANSI laser safety standard allows higher maximum permissible power to the human eye. Higher scan speed can also be achieved. In this paper, we report two OCT systems that are designed specifically for retinal and anterior segment imaging of the human eye. Retinal OCT scans 400 A-scans per second, 2mm depth in tissue, and 10 um image resolution with an 820nm SLD. Anterior segment OCT (AC-OCT) scans 2000 A-scans per second, 6mm depth in tissue, and 16um image resolution with a 1300nm SLD. Benefits of suitable wavelength selection in scanning different tissue are clearly seen in the OCT images. Retinal OCT (OCT3) demonstrates significant improvement over the previous generation (OCT1/OCT2) from both a technical and cost point of view. AC-OCT performs 8 frames of 256 A-scans per second and is capable of imaging the human eye in vivo with minimum eye motion artifacts. It has potential use in refractive surgery, angle-closure glaucoma, and cataract surgery.