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Ultrahigh-resolution ophthalmic optical coherence tomography

Nature Medicine volume 7, pages 502–507 (2001)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 May 2001

Here we present new technology for optical coherence tomography (OCT) that enables ultrahigh-resolution, non-invasive in vivo ophthalmologic imaging of retinal and corneal morphology with an axial resolution of 2–3 μm. This resolution represents a significant advance in performance over the 10–15-μm resolution currently available in ophthalmic OCT systems and, to our knowledge, is the highest resolution for in vivo ophthalmologic imaging achieved to date. This resolution enables in vivo visualization of intraretinal and intracorneal architectural morphology that had previously only been possible with histopathology. We demonstrate image processing and segmentation techniques for automatic identification and quantification of retinal morphology. Ultrahigh-resolution OCT promises to enhance early diagnosis and objective measurement for tracking progression of ocular diseases, as well as monitoring the efficacy of therapy.

Current clinical practice emphasizes the development of techniques to diagnose disease in its early stages, when treatment is most effective and irreversible damage can be prevented or delayed. In ophthalmology, the precise visualization of pathology is especially critical for the diagnosis and staging of ocular diseases. Therefore, new imaging techniques have been developed to augment conventional fundoscopy and slit-lamp biomicroscopy. Ultrasonography is routinely used in ophthalmology, but requires physical contact with the eye and has axial resolutions of approximately 200 μm (ref. 1). High-frequency ultrasound enables approximately 20 μm axial resolutions, but due to limited penetration, only anterior eye structures can be imaged2. Confocal microscopy has been used to image the cornea with sub-micrometer transverse resolution3. Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy enables en face fundus imaging with micron-scale transverse and approximately 300-μm axial resolution4,5. None of these techniques, however, permits high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging of the retina in vivo.

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Figure 1: Conventional (top) and ultrahigh-resolution (bottom) in vivo OCT images along the papillomacular axis.
Figure 2: Comparison of an in vivo ultrahigh-resolution OCT image (top) of the normal human macula to a histologic micrograph of the normal macula (bottom) taken from an ophthalmic textbook26.
Figure 3: Quantification of intraretinal structures.
Figure 4: In vivo ultrahigh-resolution corneal OCT image of a normal human subject.
Figure 5: Ultrahigh-resolution ophthalmologic OCT system using a titanium:sapphire laser light source.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Bursell, A. Claremont, E. Ippen, C. Pitris, K. Saunders, E. Swanson, J. MacNutt, V.M. Miller, J. Prien, S. Hel and C. Bang. Supported in part by the NIH contract RO1-EY11289-13 and EY11006-04, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research contract F49620-98-1-0139, the Joint Services Electronics Program contract DAAH04-95-1-0038 and the Medical Free Electron Laser Program N00014-97-1-1066. W.D. was supported by the Max Kade Foundation and the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. U.M. and F.X.K. were supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. R.K.G. was supported from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Wolfgang Drexler, Uwe Morgner, Ravi K. Ghanta, Franz X. Kärtner & James G. Fujimoto

  2. New England Eye Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Joel S. Schuman

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  1. Wolfgang Drexler
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Correspondence to James G. Fujimoto.

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Drexler, W., Morgner, U., Ghanta, R. et al. Ultrahigh-resolution ophthalmic optical coherence tomography. Nat Med 7, 502–507 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/86589

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