Optical system and image processing of endothelial cells of donated cornea

摘要

A magnifying optical system (250 - 400$MUL@) attached to a Slit Lamp has been developed in order to evaluate the endothelium of donated corneas. The images from the endothelium are captured by a CCD and displayed in a PC monitor. The cost of the system is relatively low compared to the specular microscopes that are on the market for donated corneas (66% less expensive). The system offers two kinds of computer evaluation: interactive and automatic. The interactive counting of the endothelial cells provides a window of any shape and size desired by the clinician, where the cells are clicked by the mouse and the developed software estimates the number of endothelial cells in the cornea as a whole. The automatic counting of the cells is done by an image processing, where the cells are recognized by the developed software, without any interference of the clinician, and counted automatically. The most important features of this system compared to most that are on the market are: there are two ways for the clinical to count the cells and both can be used simultaneously (the automatic provides a quick counting of the cells and the interactive provides a wanted clinical interference on the result); many parts of the cornea can be evaluated and an average counting is provided (usually just the central part of the cornea is analyzed); real time image is provided instead of just a static image, which allows the clinician to have more information about the cornea such as the evaluation of the cells in the snail tracks.