Macular Degeneration: de Boer JF

de Bruin DM, Burnes DL, Loewenstein J, Chen Y, Chang S, Chen TC, Esmaili DD, de Boer JF. · Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. · Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. · Pubmed #18390638 No free full text.

Abstract: PURPOSE: To assess the application of optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) at 1050 nm for the detection of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and its response to treatment. Three patients presenting with blurred vision and exudative AMD were imaged before and after anti-VEGF treatment with ranibizumab. METHODS: The patients were imaged with OFDI, a swept-source-based, high-speed optical coherence tomography (OCT) system developed at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine. A center wavelength of 1050 nm was used that has been demonstrated to provide better imaging of the deeper structures of the retina below the RPE, such as the choroidal vasculature. Three-dimensional data sets were acquired in 2 to 4 seconds. RESULTS: En face images were compiled from cross-sectional OFDI data and correlated with color fundus photography (CF) and fluorescein angiograms (FAs). Cross-sectional images were coregistered with CF and FA to obtain depth-resolved information about CNV, CNV volume, retinal thickness, subretinal fluid volume and height of neurosensory detachment before and after treatment with ranibizumab. A band of reduced reflectivity below the RPE was identified in all three subjects that corresponded to areas of confirmed and suspected occult CNV on FA. After treatment, this band was reduced in volume in all patients. CONCLUSIONS: High-speed 3-D OFDI at 1050 nm is a promising technology for imaging the retina and choroid in neovascular AMD. The developed system at 1050 nm provides good contrast for occult (type 1) CNV and may have advantages compared with time domain and current state of the art spectral domain OCT systems (SD-OCT) at 850 nm.

Yi K, Mujat M, Park BH, Sun W, Miller JW, Seddon JM, Young LH, de Boer JF, Chen TC. · Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. · Br J Ophthalmol. · Pubmed #18697811 links to  free full text

Abstract: BACKGROUND/AIMS: To demonstrate how spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) can better evaluate drusen and associated anatomical changes in eyes with non-neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) compared with time domain optical coherence tomography (TDOCT). METHODS: Images were obtained from three eyes of three patients with AMD using an experimental SDOCT system. Both a titanium-sapphire (Ti:sapphire) laser and a superluminescent diode (SLD) were used as a broadband light source to achieve cross-sectional images of the retina. A qualitative and quantitative analysis was performed for structural changes associated with non-neovascular AMD. An automated algorithm was developed to analyse drusen area and volume from SDOCT images. TDOCT was performed using the fast macular scan (StratusOCT, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California). RESULTS: SDOCT images can demonstrate structural changes associated with non-neovascular AMD. A new SDOCT algorithm can determine drusen area, drusen volume and proportion of drusen. CONCLUSIONS: With new algorithms to determine drusen area and volume and its unprecedented simultaneous ultra-high speed ultra-high resolution imaging, SDOCT can improve the evaluation of structural abnormalities in non-neovascular AMD.

Chen TC, Cense B, Miller JW, Rubin PA, Deschler DG, Gragoudas ES, de Boer JF. · Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, 02114, USA. · Am J Ophthalmol. · Pubmed #16765704 No free full text.

Abstract: PURPOSE: To correlate in vivo human retina optical coherence tomography (OCT)3 images with histology. DESIGN: Case series. METHODS: Linear OCT3 scans through the macula and optic nerve were obtained in three eyes of three patients who then underwent exenteration surgery for orbital cancers. OCT3 images were then correlated with histology. RESULTS: On histology, two eyes were normal, and one eye had dry macular degeneration. The plexiform layers on histology correlated with the green/yellow areas on the OCT3 scans, and the nuclear layers correlated with the black areas on the OCT3 scans. CONCLUSIONS: The authors are unaware of previous reports correlating histology to in vivo human retina OCT3 images. Our findings using human eyes are not different from previous animal studies, in that the plexiform layers are optically highly backscattering and the nuclear layers are not.