Abstract
The choroid is a highly vascularized tissue supplying the retinal pigment epithelium and photoreceptors. Its implication in retinal diseases is gaining increasing interest. However, investigating the anatomy and flow of the choroid remains challenging. Here we show that laser Doppler holography provides high-contrast imaging of choroidal vessels in humans, with a spatial resolution comparable to state-of-the-art indocyanine green angiography and optical coherence tomography. Additionally, laser Doppler holography contributes to sort out choroidal arteries and veins by using a power Doppler spectral analysis. We thus demonstrate the potential of laser Doppler holography to improve our understanding of the anatomy and flow of the choroidal vascular network.
Highlights
The choroid is a highly vascularized tissue supplying the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors which carries a notably higher blood flow than the retina itself [1]
optical coherence tomography (OCT)-angiography (OCT-A) is a speckle contrast imaging method based on OCT that allows for the volumetric imaging quality of OCT with a functional contrast sensitive to blood flow, and it has allowed to image the retinal vascular tissue with high spatial resolution [10]
We found that Laser Doppler holography (LDH) was able to reveal choroidal vascular structures that were not observed with state of the art indocyanine green angiography (ICG-A) and OCT instruments
Summary
The choroid is a highly vascularized tissue supplying the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors which carries a notably higher blood flow than the retina itself [1] It is gaining interest as a potential driver of a number of retinal diseases, a role which has been documented by indocyanine green angiography (ICG-A) [2] and optical coherence tomography (OCT) [3, 4]. OCT-angiography (OCT-A) is a speckle contrast imaging method based on OCT that allows for the volumetric imaging quality of OCT with a functional contrast sensitive to blood flow, and it has allowed to image the retinal vascular tissue with high spatial resolution [10] This led to the finding that many retinal diseases are related to an increased choroidal thickness, with vascular dilation being the primary cause of such increased thickness [5]. Line-scanning laser Doppler flowmetry was used successfully to reveal the choroidal vasculature [18], but no arteriovenous differentiation was investigated
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