Latest OCT method provides more accurate diagnosis

By using a technique known as ‘linear illumination’, researchers from the Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Vienna) have established so-called Line Field OCT (LF-OCT) technology that tackles the image aberrations which sometimes occur in existing techniques.It does this by applying a non-iterative digital correction process that involves a strip of light ‘scanning’ the eye, before producing high-resolution images.According to a report published in Optica by PhD student Mr Laurin Ginner, linear illumination should allow eyecare professionals to make digital corrections without the need to use expensive hardware-based adaptive lenses.{{quote-A:R-W:450-I:2-Q: The eye is the ‘window’ into the brain. Our hope is that the higher resolution will help to improve diagnostic accuracy in general, -WHO:Professor Rainer Leitgeb, Optramed head}}“The linear illumination that is used allows very rapid frame rates, which are extrely important for these corrections. This enables us to correct aberrations over the entire three-dimensional volume of the retina,” Ginner said.Ginner went on to explain that the use of linear illumination makes it possible to identify and sort individual photoreceptors, capillary blood vessels and specific nerve fibres in a single image.The images can also be realigned, refocused or digitally processed to provide clinicians and practitioners with better means to diagnose conditions.The LF-OCT method was developed jointly at the Christian Doppler Optramed Laboratory and MedUni Vienna, and is currently undergoing clinical studies before it can be made commercially available.Optramed head, Professor Rainer Leitgeb, said the new technique could also open other areas of medical diagnostics – for example in surgery or dentistry – because it allows for more specific, personalised medicine.“This technique can conceivably also be used for diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases. The eye is the ‘window’ into the brain. Our hope is that the higher resolution will help to improve diagnostic accuracy in general,” he said.