Modular multimodal swept-source spectrally encoded scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography scan-head for surgical microscope-integrated and slit-lamp imaging

Abstract

Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) enable noninvasive in vivo diagnostic imaging and provide complementary en face and depth-resolved visualization of ophthalmic structures, respectively. We previously demonstrated concurrent multimodal swept-source spectrally encoded scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and OCT (SS-SESLO-OCT) at 1060 nm using a swept-source and double clad fiber coupler. Here, we present system enhancements and novel designs for a modular SS-SESLO-OCT scan-head that can be coupled to ophthalmic surgical microscope-integrated and slit-lamp imaging optics. Multimodal SS-SESLO-OCT was demonstrated using a custom-built swept-source OCT engine with a 200 kHz 1060 nm source that was optically buffered for concurrent SESLO and OCT imaging at 100% duty cycle and 400 kHz sweep-rate. A shared optical relay and fast-axis galvanometer ensured inherent co-registration between SESLO and OCT field-of-views and concurrent acquisition of an en face SESLO image with each OCT cross-section. SESLO and OCT frames were acquired at 200 fps with 2560 x 2000 pix. (spectral x lateral). We show in vivo human ophthalmic imaging data using surgical microscope-integrated and slit-lamp imaging relays to demonstrate the utility of our SS-SESLO-OCT design. Our self-contained modular scan-head can be used for either intraoperative guidance or clinical diagnostics and reduces the complexity, cost, and maintenance required for clinical translation of these technologies. We believe concurrent multimodal SS-SESLO-OCT may benefit 1) intraoperative imaging by allowing for real-time surgical feedback, instrument tracking, and overlays of computationally extracted image-based surrogate biomarkers of disease, and 2) slit-lamp imaging by enabling aiming, image registration, and multi-field mosaicking.