Integrating photoacoustic ophthalmoscopy with scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, optical coherence tomography, and fluorescein angiography for a multimodal retinal imaging platform

Abstract

Abstract. Photoacoustic ophthalmoscopy (PAOM) is a newly developed retinal imaging technology that holds promise for both fundamental investigation and clinical diagnosis of several blinding diseases. Hence, integrating PAOM with other existing ophthalmic imaging modalities is important to identify and verify the strengths of PAOM compared with the established technologies and to provide the foundation for more comprehensive multimodal imaging. To this end, we developed a retinal imaging platform integrating PAOM with scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO), spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and fluorescein angiography (FA). In the system, all the imaging modalities shared the same optical scanning and delivery mechanisms, which enabled registered retinal imaging from all the modalities. High-resolution PAOM, SD-OCT, SLO, and FA images were acquired in both albino and pigmented rat eyes. The reported in vivo results demonstrate the capability of the integrated system to provide comprehensive anatomic imaging based on multiple optical contrasts.

Novel Retinal Imaging Technologies

“…Song et al, [24] developed a retinal imaging platform integrating PAOM with scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO), SD-OCT, and FA. In this system, all the imaging modalities shared the same optical scanning and delivery mechanisms, which enable registered retinal imaging from all the modalities.…”

Array-Based Real-Time Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Ocular Imaging

“…Moreover, a photoacoustic imaging system, such as a transducer and a data acquisition unit, is similar to a conventional ophthalmic ultrasound imaging system and effectively combined with it so that it is feasible to offer mechanical and morphological information in addition to functional and cellular data [10,11]. However, recent studies related to photoacoustic ophthalmic imaging have been mostly based on a single element detector and focused on assessment of microscopic structure, which is confined to limited field of view and far from fully utilizing potentials and advantages of photoacoustic imaging techniques [12][13][14].…”

Biomedical photoacoustics: fundamentals, instrumentation and perspectives on nanomedicine

“…Combined with PAM and confocal microscopy, MPM can be extended to the new biological field for measuring non-fluorescent objects such as melanin and hemoglobin. 18 Furthermore, the combined PAM/OCT system is made up of both PAM and OCT, a 2D galvanometer for raster scanning and a dichroic mirror integrated with the pulsed laser beam in PAM and broadband beam in OCT. 39 PAI and thermoacoustic tomography (TAT) have been integrated by Ku et al in their laboratory as PAI/TAT system which combines near-infrared (NIR) laser light and nonionizing radiofrequency waves to acquire additional information such as blood volume, oxygenation level of hemoglobin and water/ion concentration from breast tissue. 40 …”