Accurate real-time depth control for CP-SSOCT distal sensor based handheld microsurgery tools

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Surgical Technology

Background:

• Microsurgical tools require high precision for delicate procedures like retinal surgery.
• Existing optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems face challenges in real-time distal sensing and latency compensation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel targeting and tracking scheme for handheld microsurgical tools using common-path swept source OCT (CP-SSOCT).
• To achieve micron-order precision control in microsurgery through accurate distal sensing and predictive motion compensation.

Main Methods:

• Integration of a CP-SSOCT distal sensor with a handheld microsurgical tool.
• Implementation of a shifted cross-correlation method for robust retinal surface detection.
• Application of a Kalman filter-based predictor to compensate for system latencies.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated highly accurate depth targeting with Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) below 5 μm.
• Validated performance using both dry phantoms and ex-vivo bovine retina models.
• Achieved robust and accurate distal sensing essential for micron-level surgical control.

Conclusions:

• The developed CP-SSOCT targeting and tracking scheme enables precise microsurgical interventions.
• The shifted cross-correlation and Kalman filter methods significantly improve accuracy and robustness in retinal surgery.
• This technology holds potential for advancing minimally invasive ophthalmic procedures.