Abstract
An ultra-high-speed spectral domain optical Doppler tomography (SD-ODT) system is used to acquire images of blood flow in a human retina in vivo, at 29,000 depth profiles (A-lines) per second and with data acquisition over 99% of the measurement time. The phase stability of the system is examined and image processing algorithms are presented that allow accurate determination of bi-directional Doppler shifts. Movies are presented of human retinal flow acquired at 29 frames per second with 1000 A-lines per frame over a time period of 3.28 seconds, showing accurate determination of vessel boundaries and time-dependent bi-directional flow dynamics in artery-vein pairs. The ultra-high-speed SD-ODT system allows visualization of the pulsatile nature of retinal blood flow, detects blood flow within the choroid and retinal capillaries, and provides information on the cardiac cycle. In summary, accurate video rate imaging of retinal blood flow dynamics is demonstrated at ocular exposure levels below 600 microW.
Highlights
Accurate knowledge of retinal blood flow dynamics is important in the treatment and understanding the pathophysiology of many diseases, including diabetic retinopathy [1,2] and glaucoma [3]
An ultra-high-speed spectral domain optical Doppler tomography (SD-ODT) system is used to acquire images of blood flow in a human retina in vivo, at 29,000 depth profiles (A-lines) per second and with data acquisition over 99% of the measurement time
We believe these benefits that spectral domain optical Doppler tomography (ODT) possess over laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and standard ODT will make it a useful investigational and diagnostic tool
Summary
Accurate knowledge of retinal blood flow dynamics is important in the treatment and understanding the pathophysiology of many diseases, including diabetic retinopathy [1,2] and glaucoma [3]. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT), known as Fourier domain OCT (FD-OCT), has demonstrated superior sensitivity over TD-OCT [13,14] by a factor of up to 250 fold [15], allowing ultra-high-speed retinal imaging without compromising image quality [15,16,17,18]. This technology has recently been combined with Doppler imaging to measure the velocity of a moving mirror and capillary tube flow [19]. We present what we believe to be the first use of SDOCT for continuous in vivo imaging of human retinal blood flow dynamics over a time period of several seconds, with data acquisition over 99% of the measurement time
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