Whole anterior segment and retinal swept source OCT for comprehensive ocular screening

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Medical Imaging
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Whole eye visualization and morphometry are crucial in clinical ophthalmology.
• Current ophthalmic optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems are typically specialized for either anterior segment or retinal imaging.
• A unified imaging approach for the entire eye is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) system capable of imaging both the anterior segment and retina of the eye.
• To evaluate the clinical potential of this whole eye OCT system for screening and early detection of ocular pathologies.

Main Methods:

• Development and implementation of a proof-of-concept SS-OCT system.
• Utilizing a single light source and detector for alternate imaging of the anterior segment and retina.
• Pilot study involving imaging of a small patient population.

Main Results:

• Successful demonstration of simultaneous whole eye imaging capability (anterior segment and retina) with the SS-OCT prototype.
• Acquisition of high-quality images allowing for detailed visualization and morphometry.
• Identification of relevant clinical features in both anterior and posterior eye segments in pilot patients.

Conclusions:

• The developed SS-OCT system offers a novel approach for comprehensive ocular imaging.
• This technology holds significant clinical potential for efficient whole eye screening and early diagnosis of eye diseases.
• Further validation in larger patient cohorts is warranted to establish its clinical utility.