OCT-based whole eye biometry system

Abstract

Purpose : To demonstrate a new dual-conjugate, dual-band approach to whole eye optical biometry. The flexibility and utility of such a system for wide-field measurements and diagnostics far exceeding axial lengths and thicknesses, and IOL power calculations is anticipated to make it commercially viable in many research and clinical applications.

Methods : That system was based upon an ellipsoidal optical scanning/imaging design that produces near-normal incidence scans over large patches of the eye’s surface for efficient profiling and corneal/scleral surface stitching. This method permits simultaneous imaging of pairs of ocular surfaces with respect to the scan pivot point (the system pupil), by integration of dual-conjugate optics. Coordinated dual-reference arms enable ranging to these two focal surfaces at precisely known locations with respect to the scan pivot, and to each other, on a single SDOCT spectrometer without imposing extreme requirements on the axial imaging range. Direct imaging of the eye through the reflective scan optics allows the system pupil/pivot location to be precisely positioned by the operator, while the eye’s position and orientation are monitored by a camera and controlled by a fixation display.

Results : The method has been initially demonstrated with a single imaging system by changing the beam focus and the scanning pivoting point and measuring various eye surfaces sequentially. Typical results for large area scans of cornea, iris and top of lens, and retina are shown in Fig. 1.

Conclusions : Our preliminary corneal/scleral, lenticular and retinal imaging demonstrations (performed at safe light levels for retinal imaging under NEIRB human subjects protocols) have shown coordinated optical delays and focal conjugate zoom control produce high quality SDOCT images ranging throughout the whole eye. Simultaneous measurement of anterior and posterior ocular anatomic structures and surfaces, and their precise spatial relationship to each other over wide angles, is feasible with a two-channel, dual-conjugate non-contact optical ocular biometry system in the optically accessible regions of the eye.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.

 

Figure 1. A: averaged image of the cornea; B: average image of the iris and top of the lens; C: average image of the retina; D: same optical configuration as C, configured as 3D raster, 50x100 deg (640 A-lines x 90 B-scans), corrected for eye motion and aligned; E: tangential and sagittal sections of the 3D data set.