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Updated: May 28, 2025

Multimodal Volumetric Retinal Imaging by Oblique Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy oSLO and Optical Coherence Tomography OCT
Published on: August 4, 2018
Cone mosaic in eyes with varied axial length using adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy
Wen-Da Zhou1, Li Dong1, Han-Xu Shi1
1Beijing Tongren Eye Centre, Beijing Key Laboratory of Intraocular Tumour Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences Key Lab, Medical Artificial Intelligence Research and Verification Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, PR China.
Background:
Abnormalities in cone photoreceptor topography are closely associated with the development of various ocular diseases, including axial myopia. Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) enables high-resolution, single-cell imaging of the living human retina.
Methods:
This study aimed to investigate the potential relationship between cone topography and axial myopia using a commercial AOSLO system. A total of 74 participants (148 eyes; 30 men, 40.5 %) with a mean age of 31.8 ± 10.4 years were included. Cone mosaics were imaged at 3° and 5° eccentricities of the fovea centralis. The relationships between cone parameters (linear cone density, cone spacing, cone dispersion, and cone regularity) and axial length were analyzed.
Results:
Linear cone density significantly decreased with increasing axial length at both 3° and 5° eccentricities (all P < 0.001). Cone spacing significantly increased with greater axial length and reduced cone density. After adjusting for axial length, cone spacing was significantly associated only with linear cone density at both 3° and 5° eccentricities (all P < 0.001). Cone dispersion significantly increased with longer axial length and lower cone density. After adjusting for axial length, cone dispersion remained significantly associated with linear cone density only at the inferior 3° (β = -0.43, P = 0.014) and inferior 5° eccentricities (β=-0.4, P = 0.003). Cone regularity significantly increased with higher linear cone density at certain 3° eccentricities (nasal: β=0.34, P < 0.001; temporal: β=0.25, P = 0.006; inferior: β = 0.2, P = 0.04) and significantly decreased with longer axial length at temporal 5° eccentricity (β = -0.57, P < 0.001).
Conclusions:
Linear cone density was significantly reduced in axial myopia. The uniformity of cone distribution was disrupted as a result of the reduction in cone density. Additionally, cone regularity was significantly diminished in axial myopia, potentially due to the direct effects of axial elongation at 5° eccentricity or reductions in cone density at 3° eccentricity.

