System and method for generating a wide-field OCT image of a portion of a sample

Inventors

Berkeley, Andrew • Rempel, David • Silver, Jason

Assignees

Perimeter Medical Imaging Inc

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems and methods are described herein for obtaining wide field OCT images and other types of image data from at least one portion of a sample. Various embodiments of systems, and methods are described herein for assessing a degree of differentiation for a second region of an OCT image of a tissue sample with respect to another first. Various embodiments of a sample container are also described herein for containing a tissue sample and maintaining the tissue sample in a defined orientation during imaging or handling.

Core Innovation

The invention provides generating a wide field optical coherence tomography (OCT) image of a portion of a sample by creating a surface map of the sample and acquiring raw OCT data based on the surface map. The acquisition identifies an initial scan position and a final scan position on the surface map, where the initial scan position corresponds to a highest point of the surface and the final scan position corresponds to a lowest point of the surface. For a given set of vertical OCT images, the raw OCT data are acquired to generate at least a first OCT image with an upper edge of an imaging window aligned with the initial scan position and a second OCT image with an upper edge of an imaging window aligned with the final scan position.

A plurality of OCT images are generated from the raw OCT data and two or more OCT images are combined to create the wide field OCT image. The combination includes aligning a first OCT image with a neighbouring OCT image and overlaying portions of the first OCT image over portions of the neighbouring OCT image. The overlaying creates intermediary composite images, where each intermediary composite image includes a different amount of overlap between the OCT image and the neighbouring image.

Entropy associated with each intermediary composite image is determined, and the intermediary composite image associated with a lowest entropy value is selected as the composite OCT image for the first OCT image and the neighbouring OCT image, with the amount of overlap associated with the selected intermediary composite image recorded. The disclosed workflow further includes combining OCT images generated from the raw OCT data using the surface map-driven scan-position alignment and the entropy-based selection of overlap to create the wide field OCT image.

Claims Coverage

The document describes multiple independent claims that collectively cover surface-map-driven acquisition and wide-field image generation by combining OCT images, an entropy-based overlap-selection mechanism for combining aligned OCT images, and a corresponding system architecture with input/output ports and an image processing module. The independent claims include inventive features focused on surface mapping, highest/lowest surface scan position alignment, intermediary composite creation with varying overlap, and selecting the lowest-entropy composite while recording the overlap amount.

Across the independent claims, the coverage centers on creating a surface map and acquiring raw OCT data using initial and final scan positions aligned to a highest point and a lowest point of the sample surface to generate vertical OCT images, and combining aligned neighbouring OCT images by creating intermediary composite images with different overlap amounts, computing an entropy for each, and selecting the lowest-entropy composite while recording the associated overlap amount. Corresponding system claims include an input port, an image processing module configured to perform these steps, and an output port providing the wide-field OCT images.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications