Abstract
Purpose:
To construct a high contrast image of photoreceptors, retinal nerve fibers (RNF), and capillaries by using adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) which is applied to wide diopter range.
Methods:
We have newly developed an AOSLO prototype equipped with two liquid-crystal-on-silicon spacial light modulators and optimized its optical system to cover a wide diopter range. The prototype covered spherical diopter range from -10D to +5D and cylindrical diopter range from -5D to 0D. Using the AOSLO prototype, we took images of healthy eyes and diseased eyes. Changing the position of in-line fixation target, we selected an imaging position in a 6 x 6mm square area on the retina. We also changed a focus position in the retina from retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer to RNF layer.
Results:
We took AOSLO images of 16 patients (27 eyes), whose spherical diopter ranged from -10.75D to +2.25D and whose cylindrical diopter ranged from -3.75D to 0D. We also took AOSLO images of two healthy eyes (spherical -3.50D, -4.25D; cylindrical -4.75D, -4.00D respectively) and selected imaging positions at eccentricities of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0mm respectively, and acquired reliable images of good quality sufficient for analysis. When we selected a position nasal 2.0mm from the fovea, we changed focus positions and we observed photoreceptors, blood flow in capillaries, and retinal nerve fibers.
Conclusions:
We observed high contrast images of photoreceptors, RNF, and capillaries by using our AOSLO prototype. The instrument is useful to research on retinal diseases due to its capability of imaging the retina over a wide diopter range.
Keywords: 552 imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound)