Ophthalmic examination and disease management with multiple illumination modalities
Inventors
Rege, Abhishek • Brooke, M. Jason
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-10722116-B2
Publication Date
2020-07-28
Expiration Date
Abstract
Imaging various regions of the eye is important for both clinical diagnostic and treatment purposes as well as for scientific research. Diagnosis of a number of clinical conditions relies on imaging of the various tissues of the eye. The subject technology describes a method and apparatus for imaging of the back and/or front of the eye using multiple illumination modalities, which permits the collection of one or more of reflectance, spectroscopic, fluorescence, and laser speckle contrast images.
Core Innovation
The invention concerns an ophthalmic imaging device and a method of imaging a region of tissue of an eye using different imaging modalities obtained by configuring the device. The method achieves a desired imaging modality by adjusting one or more optical assemblies, two or more illumination sources, and/or one or more image acquisition parameters, and the illumination sources include a coherent light source and an incoherent light source.
The method illuminates a first region of interest of the eye and acquires a first image by capturing light from the first region of interest based on the image acquisition parameters. The first image is one of a laser speckle contrast image, spectroscopic image, reflectance image, or fluorescence image, and the device is then reconfigured by adjusting the optical assemblies, illumination sources, and/or image acquisition parameters.
After reconfiguration, a second region of interest is illuminated and a second image is acquired with a different modality. The first and second regions of interest at least partially overlap, and the method processes the first image and the second image, including producing imaging outputs that can be used for additional derived representations such as distinguishing veins from arteries and generating composite or compound images.
Claims Coverage
Independent claim clm-00001 covers a method of imaging overlapping regions of an eye by configuring an ophthalmic imaging device to acquire two different modalities using coherent and incoherent illumination, then processing the resulting images. The inventive features include modality configuration with coherent and incoherent light sources, acquiring first and second images from overlapping regions of interest, and processing both images.
Configuring for desired imaging modality using coherent and incoherent sources
Configuring an ophthalmic imaging device to achieve a desired imaging modality by adjusting one or more optical assemblies, two or more illumination sources, or one or more image acquisition parameters, wherein the two or more illumination sources include a coherent light source and an incoherent light source.
Acquiring a first modality image from a first region of interest
Illuminating a first region of interest of the eye using one of the illumination sources and acquiring a first image by capturing light coming from the first region of interest based on the image acquisition parameters, wherein the first image is one of a laser speckle contrast image, spectroscopic image, reflectance image, or fluorescence image.
Reconfiguring and acquiring a second different modality image from an overlapping region
Reconfiguring the ophthalmic imaging device by adjusting the one or more optical assemblies, the two or more illumination sources, or the one or more image acquisition parameters; illuminating a second region of interest, the second region of interest at least partially overlapping the first region of interest; and acquiring a second image by capturing light coming from the second region of interest, wherein the second image is one of a laser speckle contrast image, spectroscopic image, reflectance image, or fluorescence image different from the first image.
Processing overlapping multi-modality images
Processing the first image and the second image.
Overall, the claim coverage is centered on obtaining two different modality images from at least partially overlapping regions of an eye, enabled by device reconfiguration using coherent and incoherent illumination, followed by processing of the two images.
Stated Advantages
The first and second images can be processed to produce additional derived representations, including distinguishing veins from arteries and generating composite or compound images.
Documented Applications
Imaging a region of tissue of an eye using different imaging modalities.
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