Optical coherence tomography sensing: Image post processing for neuropathy detection

Abstract

The pathology of the optic nerve is commonly referred to as optic neuropathy, which is a disease characterized by a diminution in visual acuity and a change in color vision. This pathology has numerous causes, including genetic, traumatic, metabolic, toxic, and substance abuse. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive diagnostic method, and one of the most significant advances in ophthalmology, as it permits correlation between structural appearance and visual dysfunction. However, they have some limitations; the lack of ability to detect leaks, the propensity for image artifacts due to patient movement, the comparatively small field of view, and the difficulty in detecting microcirculation at optic nerve head (ONH) are their limitations. To address these issues, we have proposed an image segmentation to be compared to a variational mode decomposition, whose method entails decomposing the signal of the optic nerve into modes in order to extract the continuous information in each mode, thereby facilitating a proper diagnosis and a more accurate evaluation of specialist decision-making regarding optic neuropathy.