OCT device for optretinography

Abstract

Repeated dark adaptation periods significantly increase the time required to acquire ORG data from various parts of the retina. [Solution] An OCT device for acquiring optretinography data comprises an optical system that applies light stimulation limited to a portion of the retina of the eye whose position can be controlled, an OCT imaging system that acquires OCT data from the retina, and a controller. The controller acquires the duration of the physiological response of the retina in the acquired optretinography data, acquires the target position on the retina, uses this to control the optical system to apply light stimulation to each first portion of the retina at each target position, controls the OCT imaging system to acquire OCT data for each second portion of the retina stimulated by the light stimulation applied to the first portion for a duration indicated by a first index, and generates ORG data based on the acquired OCT data.

Claims

1. An optical coherence tomography (OCT) apparatus (100) configured to acquire optretinography (ORG) data (150) showing the physiological response of the retina of a subject's eye (160) to light stimulation, An optical system (120) capable of applying the aforementioned light stimulus to the retina, configured such that the illumination of the retina by the light stimulus is limited to a portion of the retina, and controllable to change the position on the retina to which the light stimulus is applied, An OCT imaging system (130) capable of acquiring OCT data (135) by imaging a portion of the retina of the eye (160), Controller (140) and Equipped with, The aforementioned controller, (S51) Obtaining a first index (141) indicating the duration of the physiological response shown by the ORG data to be acquired by the OCT device (100), The method involves obtaining N second indicators (142), each second indicator indicating a target position on the retina to which the light stimulus should be applied by the optical system (120), the number N of the second indicators (142) being dependent on the first indicator (141), and decreasing as the duration indicated by the first indicator (141) increases, thereby obtaining a plurality of second indicators (142) (S54). Using the second indicator (142), the optical system (120) is controlled to apply the light stimulus to each first portion of the retina at each target position (S55), Controlling the OCT imaging system (130) to acquire OCT data (135) for each of the N second parts of the retina for each of the first parts of the retina over a duration indicated by the first index (141), wherein at least a portion of each of the second parts is positioned relative to each of the first parts of the retina so that it can be stimulated by the applied light stimulus during the acquisition of at least a portion of the OCT data (135) (S56), Processing the respective OCT data (135) of each second portion of the retina to generate respective ORG data (150) showing the respective physiological response of the second portion of the retina to the light stimulus applied to the corresponding first portion of the retina (S57), An OCT device (100) configured to perform the following.

2. The controller (140) is A first value indicating a duration of less than 20 ms of the physiological response, as shown by the ORG data (150) to be acquired by the OCT device (100), A second value indicating the duration of the physiological response exceeding 20 ms, as shown by the ORG data (150) to be acquired by the OCT device (100), The system is configured to obtain the first index (141) by selecting one value from a group of values ​​that includes the following: The OCT apparatus (100) according to claim 1.

3. The N second indicators (142) indicate the respective target positions on the retina. The aforementioned target location is, The light stimuli are distributed on a circumference with their center in the fovea of ​​the eye (160) and are applied to the optical system (120) at the following positions: The positions located within each grid cell of the Early Diabetic Retinopathy Treatment Study (ETDRS) grid, which has its center in the fovea of ​​the eye (160), and where the light stimulus is applied by the optical system (120), and Distributed along a straight line passing through the fovea of ​​the eye (160), at the position where the light stimulus is applied by the optical system (120), The OCT apparatus (100) according to claim 1 or claim 2, which is one of the following.

4. The optical system (120, 300) comprises a light source (301) configured to generate light that provides the light stimulus, and one or more scanning elements (312, 314; 363, 364) configured to guide the light to the retina. The OCT apparatus (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the controller (140) is configured to control one or more scanning elements (312, 314; 363, 364) using the N second indicators (142) to guide the light to each of the first portions of the retina at each of the target positions.

5. The OCT imaging system (130, 320) is An interferometer (322) having a sample arm (324) and a reference arm (325), The sample OCT light (L) is scattered from the retina and propagates along the sample arm (324). ｏ ) and the reference OCT light (L) propagating along the reference arm (325) ｒ A detector (323) configured to detect interference between the following: Equipped with, At least one of the one or more scanning elements (312, 314) emits the sample OCT light (L ｏ ) is directed to each of the N second parts of the retina, and the sample OCT light (L) scattered from each of the N second parts of the retina is directed to each of the N second parts of the retina. ｏ The OCT apparatus (100) according to claim 4, further configured to guide the ) to the detector (323).

6. The OCT imaging system (120, 361) is An interferometer (322) having a sample arm (324) and a reference arm (325), One or more scanning elements (312, 314), The sample OCT light (L) is scattered from the retina and propagates along the sample arm (324). ｏ ) and the reference OCT light (L) propagating along the reference arm (325) ｒ A detector (323) configured to detect interference between the following: Equipped with, The one or more scanning elements (312, 314) emit the sample OCT light (L ｏ ) is directed to each of the N second parts of the retina, and the sample OCT light (L) scattered from each of the N second parts of the retina is directed to each of the N second parts of the retina. ｏ ) is configured to guide the detector (323), The OCT apparatus (100) according to claim 4, wherein the one or more scanning elements (363, 364) of the optical system (120, 360) are different from the one or more scanning elements (312, 314) of the OCT imaging system (120, 361).

7. The OCT apparatus (100) according to claim 6, wherein the controller (140) is configured to control one or more scanning elements (363, 364) of the optical system (130, 361) independently of the one or more scanning elements (312, 314) of the OCT imaging system (120, 360) using the N second indicators (142).

8. The controller (140) stores a third index (143) which represents a time period during which the optical system (120) applies the light stimulus to each of the first parts of the retina, and the OCT imaging system (130) acquires the respective OCT data (135) of each of the second parts of the retina for each of the first parts of the retina over the duration indicated by the first index (141). The controller (140) is configured to determine the number N of the second indicators (142) to be acquired, based on the first indicator (141) and the third indicator (143), so that the controller (140) controls the optical system (120) using the N second indicators (142) within the time period indicated by the third indicator (143) to apply the light stimulus to each of the first parts of the retina, and the controller (140) controls the OCT imaging system (130) to acquire the respective OCT data (135) for each of the first parts of the retina. OCT apparatus (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. The OCT apparatus (100) according to claim 8, wherein the controller (140) is configured to update the third index (143) based on the size of the pupil of the eye (160) such that the time period indicated by the third index (143) increases as the size of the pupil increases.

10. The OCT apparatus (100) according to claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the time period indicated by the third indicator (143) does not exceed 300 ms.

11. A computer implementation method for controlling an optical coherence tomography (OCT) device (100) to acquire optretinography (ORG) data (150) showing the physiological response of the retina of the eye (160) to light stimulation, The OCT device (100) is An optical system (120) capable of applying the aforementioned light stimulus to the retina, configured such that the illumination of the retina by the light stimulus is limited to a portion of the retina, and controllable to change the position on the retina to which the light stimulus is applied, The system includes an OCT imaging system (130) that is capable of acquiring OCT data (135) by imaging a portion of the retina of the eye (160), The aforementioned method, (S51) Obtaining a first index (141) indicating the duration of the physiological response shown by the ORG data to be acquired by the OCT device (100), The method involves obtaining N second indicators (142), each second indicator indicating a target position on the retina to which the light stimulus should be applied by the optical system (120), the number N of the second indicators (142) being dependent on the first indicator (141), and decreasing as the duration indicated by the first indicator (141) increases, thereby obtaining a plurality of second indicators (142) (S54). Using the second indicator (142), the optical system (120) is controlled to apply the light stimulus to each first portion of the retina at each target position (S55), Controlling the OCT imaging system (130) to acquire OCT data (135) for each of the N second parts of the retina for each of the first parts of the retina over a duration indicated by the first index (141), wherein at least a portion of each of the second parts is positioned relative to each of the first parts of the retina so that it can be stimulated by the applied light stimulus during the acquisition of at least a portion of the OCT data (135) (S56), Processing the respective OCT data (135) of each second portion of the retina to generate respective ORG data (150) showing the respective physiological response of the second portion of the retina to the light stimulus applied to the corresponding first portion of the retina (S57), Computer implementation methods, including those mentioned above.

12. The computer implementation method according to claim 11, wherein the first index (141) is obtained by selecting one value from a group of values ​​that includes a first value indicating a duration of less than 20 ms of the physiological response indicated by ORG data (150) acquired by the OCT device (100), and a second value indicating a duration of greater than 20 ms of the physiological response indicated by ORG data (150) acquired by the OCT device (100).

13. The optical system (120) applies the light stimulus to each of the first portions of the retina, and the OCT imaging system (130) stores a third index (143) that represents a time period for acquiring the respective OCT data (135) of each of the second portions of the retina for each of the first portions of the retina over the duration indicated by the first index (141) (S52), Based on the first indicator (141) and the third indicator (143), the optical system (120) is controlled using the N second indicators (142) within the time period indicated by the third indicator (143) to apply the light stimulus to each of the first parts of the retina, and the OCT imaging system (130) is controlled to acquire the respective OCT data (135) for each of the first parts of the retina, thereby determining the number of second indicators (142) to be acquired (S53). The computer implementation method according to claim 11 or claim 12, further comprising:

14. A computer program (445) comprising computer-readable instructions, which, when executed by a processor (420) configured to control the optical coherence tomography (OCT) apparatus (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, causes the processor (420) to control the OCT apparatus (100) according to the method described in any one of claims 11 to 13.

15. A non-temporary computer-readable storage medium for storing the computer program described in claim 14.

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