Photoreceptor layer impairment in macular pathologies investigated by ultrahigh resolution opthalmic optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Ophthalmic diagnosis represents one of the most clinically developed optical coherence tomography (OCT) applications1,2. Although standard ophthalmic OCT with 10-15 µm axial resolution provides more detailed structural information than any other ophthalmic diagnostic technique, many of the early pathologic changes associated with disease are still below the resolution limit of standard OCT. Ultrahigh resolution OCT imaging employing a laboratory prototype femtosecond Titanium-sapphire laser light source has been demonstrated to achieve an axial resolution of 1-3 µm, thus enabling unprecedented in vivo sub-cellular3 as well as intraretinal4 visualization. Recently, a compact, clinically viable ultrahigh resolution (~3 µm) ophthalmic OCT system has been developed and used in clinical imaging for the first time5.