Research Project
9199973
A NEW HOLOGRAPHIC 3D CAMERA FOR FUNDUS IMAGING Abstract In the United States, retinal disease is the most common cause of visual impairment, with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) being the most common retinal diseases. For each of the above conditions, high resolution and three-dimensional (3D) imaging of the retina, retinal vasculature, choroid and/or retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is critical for diagnosis and research into the disease as well as for monitoring response to treatment. Pathology to any of these structures can lead to vision loss, since the health and function of the retina is dependent upon proper functioning of all of these components. An inexpensive and simple method to image all of these fundus structures at high resolution and in three dimensions would dramatically improve patient care and medical research. The goal of this project is to apply Fresnel Incoherent Correlation Holography (FINCH) to human fundus imaging. FINCH is a self-referenced low-coherence holographic technique that can create super-resolved 3D holographic images from any light source, including fluorescent or reflected light from the human eye fundus. A FINCH-based fundus imaging system would improve resolution and 3D imaging capability of fundus photography and all types of fluorescence angiography for retinal vasculature, while also potentially providing depth and thickness maps of retinal layers in a mode similar to Optical Coherence Tomography. All this could be done in a single instrument with operational modes identical to fluorescence angiography and fundus photography. For this Phase I research program, the well-understood design principles of FINCH will be used to adapt a standard commercial fundus camera for FINCH imaging. The prototype FINCH fundus camera will be used to image lifelike eye tissue phantoms as well as human subjects in order to establish its efficacy in fundus imaging. The long term goal of this research is the construction of inexpensive turn-key FINCH camera units specially designed to interface with commercial fundus cameras, to enable greater availability of high-resolution 3D fundus imaging in clinical care and medical research.
