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PURPOSE To demonstrate high-speed, high axial resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) at 1060 nm with penetration to the sclera. The clinical feasibility of dense, high-speed sampling for higher levels of detail at the macula and optic nerve head is explored with respect to motion artifacts. METHODS A three-dimensional (3D) OCT system making use of a high-speed camera operating at 47,000 depth scans/s was developed. The 1010- to 1080-nm wavelength band leads to 6.7 microm effective axial resolution and enables the acquisition of retinal and choroidal 130 Megavoxel volumes of human subjects within 7 seconds. Motion artifacts were reduced by numeric postprocessing techniques. RESULTS Drift motion artifacts could be suppressed within fields up to 38 degrees x 38 degrees (approximately 1 cm(2)) using acquisition speeds of up to 74 frames/s at 512 x 512 pixel/frame. This isotropic OCT sampling of the human retina in vivo allowed reconstruction of the retinal microvasculature solely on vessel reflectivity, without the use of contrast agents, and revealed three interconnected capillary meshworks. Simultaneously in the choroid, the structure of the choriocapillaris, Sattler's layer, and Haller's layer were differentiated, and the choroidal-scleral interface was clearly delineated in densely sampled narrow- and wide-angle scans (>38 degrees). At the optic nerve head, the 3D fine structure of the lamina cribrosa and the circle of Zinn-Haller were visualized. CONCLUSIONS OCT almost centered within the 1060-nm water transmission window significantly profits from lower scattering and allows investigation of the retina and choroid at an unprecedented combination of penetration and high speed at high resolution and may provide superior clinical feasibility to commercial 800-nm devices.

Objectives: To examine the feasibility of automatically segmented choroidal vessels in three-dimensional (3D) 1060-nmOCT by testing repeatability in healthy and AMD eyes and by mapping Haller's and Sattler's layer thickness in healthy eyes Methods: Fifty-five eyes (from 45 healthy subjects and 10 with non-neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) subjects) were imaged by 3D-1060-nmOCT over a 36°x36° field of view. Haller's and Sattler's layer were automatically segmented, mapped and averaged across the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study grid. For ten AMD eyes and ten healthy eyes, imaging was repeated within the same session and on another day. Outcomes were the repeatability agreement of Haller's and Sattler's layer thicknesses in healthy and AMD eyes, the validation with ICGA and the statistical analysis of the effect of age and axial eye length (AL) on both healthy choroidalsublayers. Results: The coefficients of repeatability for Sattler's and Haller's layers were 35% and 21% in healthy eyes and 44% and 31% in AMD eyes, respectively. The mean±SD healthy central submacular field thickness for Sattler's and Haller's was 87±56 µm and 141±50 µm, respectively, with a significant relationship for AL (P, Macular Vision Research Foundation, Medical University of Vienna, European Union (project FUN OCT (FP7 HEALTH, contract no. 201880)), European Union (FAMOS (FP7 ICT 317744)), European Union (FWF-NFN ‘Photoacoustic imaging in biology and Medicine’, Oesterreichische Nationalbank Jubilaumsfonds projekt (14294)), National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH R01-EY011289-27), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG-GSC80-SAOT), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG-GSC80-SAOT, DFG-HO-1791/11-1), Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., FEMTOLASERS (Firm), Christian Doppler Society

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has revolutionises the diagnosis of retinal disease based on the detection of microscopic rather than subcellular changes in retinal anatomy. However, currently the technique is limited to the detection of microscopic rather than subcellular changes in retinal anatomy. However, coherence based imaging is extremely sensitive to both changes in optical contrast and cellular events at the micrometer scale, and can generate subtle changes in the spectral content of the OCT image. Here we test the hypothesis that OCT image speckle (image texture) contains information regarding otherwise unresolvable features such as organelle changes arising in the early stages of neuronal degeneration. Using ultrahigh resolution (UHR) OCT imaging at 800 nm (spectral width 140 nm) we developed a robust method of OCT image analyses, based on spatial wavelet and texture-based parameterisation of the image speckle pattern. For the first time we show that this approach allows the non-invasive detection and quantification of early apoptotic changes in neurons within 30 min of neuronal trauma sufficient to result in apoptosis. We show a positive correlation between immunofluorescent labelling of mitochondria (a potential source of changes in cellular optical contrast) with changes in the texture of the OCT images of cultured neurons. Moreover, similar changes in optical contrast were also seen in the retinal ganglion cell- inner plexiform layer in retinal explants following optic nerve transection. The optical clarity of the explants was maintained throughout in the absence of histologically detectable change. Our data suggest that UHR OCT can be used for the non-invasive quantitative assessment of neuronal health, with a particular application to the assessment of early retinal disease.

A fully automated, robust vessel segmentation algorithm has been developed for choroidal OCT, employing multiscale 3D edge filtering and projection of “probability cones” to determine the vessel “core”, even in the tomograms with low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Based on the ideal vessel response after registration and multiscale filtering, with computed depth related SNR, the vessel core estimate is dilated to quantify the full vessel diameter. As a consequence, various statistics can be computed using the 3D choroidal vessel information, such as ratios of inner (smaller) to outer (larger) choroidal vessels or the absolute/relative volume of choroid vessels. Choroidal vessel quantification can be displayed in various forms, focused and averaged within a special region of interest, or analyzed as the function of image depth. In this way, the proposed algorithm enables unique visualization of choroidal watershed zones, as well as the vessel size reduction when investigating the choroid from the sclera towards the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an automatic choroidal vessel segmentation algorithm is successfully applied to 1060 nm 3D OCT of healthy and diseased eyes.

A two stage statistical model based on texture and shape for fully automatic choroidal segmentation of normal and pathologic eyes obtained by a 1060 nm optical coherence tomography (OCT) system is developed. A novel dynamic programming approach is implemented to determine location of the retinal pigment epithelium/ Bruch’s membrane /choriocapillaris (RBC) boundary. The choroid–sclera interface (CSI) is segmented using a statistical model. The algorithm is robust even in presence of speckle noise, low signal (thick choroid), retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) detachments and atrophy, drusen, shadowing and other artifacts. Evaluation against a set of 871 manually segmented cross-sectional scans from 12 eyes achieves an average error rate of 13%, computed per tomogram as a ratio of incorrectly classified pixels and the total layer surface. For the first time a fully automatic choroidal segmentation algorithm is successfully applied to a wide range of clinical volumetric OCT data.

To map choroidal (ChT) and retinal thickness (RT) in healthy subjects and patients with diabetes with and without maculopathy using three dimensional 1060-nm optical coherence tomography (3D-1060nm-OCT).Sixty-three eyes from 42 diabetic subjects (41-82 years of age; 11 females) grouped according to a custom scheme using Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study definitions for pathology within 1 disc-diameter of fovea (without pathology [NDR], microaneurysms [M1], exudates [M2], clinically significant macular edema [CSME]) and 16 eyes from 16 healthy age matched subjects (38-79 years of age; 11 females) were imaged by 3D-1060nm-OCT performed over a 36° × 36° field of view. Axial length, 45° fundus photographs, body mass index, plasma glucose, and blood pressure measurements were recorded. The ChT at the subfoveal location and ChT maps between RPE and the choroidal-scleral interface were generated and statistically analyzed.RT maps show thinning in the NDR group but an increase in thickness with increasing maculopathy in the temporal and central regions (unpaired t-test; P0.05). ChT mapping of all diabetic patients revealed central and inferior thinning compared to healthy eyes (unpaired t-test; P0.001). Subfoveal ChT (mean ± SD) for healthy eyes was 327 ± 74 μm, which was significantly thicker than all diabetic groups (214 ± 55 μm for NDR, 208 ± 49 μm for M1, 205 ± 54 μm for M2, and 211 ± 76 μm for CSME (ANOVA P0.001; Tukey P0.001).3D-1060nm-OCT has shown that the central choroid is thinner in all type 2 diabetic eyes regardless of disease stage. The choroidal thinning may exceed the magnitude of possible choriocapillaris atrophy. In contrast to the conventional assessment of pathologic thickness change in several locations, thickness maps allow investigation of the choroid over the extent of affected areas.

Visualization of cell migration during chemotaxis using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) requires non-standard processing techniques. Stripe artefacts and camera noise floor present in OCT data prevent detailed computer-assisted reconstruction and quantification of cell locomotion. Furthermore, imaging artefacts lead to unreliable results in automated texture based cell analysis. Here we characterize three pronounced artefacts that become visible when imaging sample structures with high dynamic range, e.g. cultured cells: (i) time-varying fixed-pattern noise; (ii) stripe artefacts generated by background estimation using tomogram averaging; (iii) image modulations due to spectral shaping. We evaluate techniques to minimize the above mentioned artefacts using an 800 nm optical coherence microscope. Effect of artefact reduction is shown exemplarily on two cell cultures, i.e. Dictyostelium on nitrocellulose substrate, and retinal ganglion cells (RGC-5) cultured on a glass coverslip. Retinal imaging also profits from the proposed processing techniques. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

This paper investigates the use of facial gestures for identity recognition. This is the first time that such a quantitative evaluation is conducted, comparing the analyses of 2D versus 3D dynamic data of verbal and nonverbal facial actions. Suitable data processing and feature extraction methods are examined, then a number of pattern matching techniques including the Fr´echet distance, Correlation Coefficients, Hidden-Markov Models, Dynamic TimeWarping and its derived forms are compared, in light of which an improved algorithm is proposed. Finally, a face recognition prototype using facial dynamics is built, achieving an Equal Error Rate EER=1.6%.

Spectrometer based optical coherence tomography at 1050nm with >70nm of spectral bandwidth, acquiring 48k depth scans per second for deeper penetration and isotropic visualisation of the full three dimensional choroidal vasculature is demonstrated in vivo.

A novel statistical model based on texture and shape for fully automatic intraretinal layer segmentation of normal retinal tomograms obtained by a commercial 800nm optical coherence tomography (OCT) system is developed. While existing algorithms often fail dramatically due to strong speckle noise, non-optimal imaging conditions, shadows and other artefacts, the novel algorithm’s accuracy only slowly deteriorates when progressively increasing segmentation task difficulty. Evaluation against a large set of manual segmentations shows unprecedented robustness, even in the presence of additional strong speckle noise, with dynamic range tested down to 12dB, enabling segmentation of almost all intraretinal layers in cases previously inaccessible to the existing algorithms. For the first time, an error measure is computed from a large, representative manually segmented data set (466 B-scans from 17 eyes, segmented twice by different operators) and compared to the automatic segmentation with a difference of only 2.6% against the inter-observer variability.

Two high speed systems for spectrometer based frequency domain optical coherence tomography are presented. A device operating at 800 nm, based on the Basler Sprint CMOS camera with linerates of up to 312,000 lps and a device based on the Goodrich SUI LHD 1024 px camera at 1060 nm with 47,000 lps are applied in a clinical environment to normal subjects. The feasibility of clinical high and ultra high-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices for retinal imaging at different wavelengths, capable of isotropic sampling with 70 to 600 frames per second at 512 depth scans/frame for widefield imaging and high density sampling at 1 Gvoxel are demostrated.