En Face and Cross-sectional Corneal Tomograms Using Sub-micron spatial resolution Optical Coherence Tomography

Abstract

Accurate diagnosis of corneal pathology and morphological identification of different corneal layers require clear delineation of corneal three-dimensional structures and en face or cross-sectional imaging of palisade of Vogt (POV), neovascularization (NV) or corneal nerves. Here we report a prototype of full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) system with isotropic sub-micron spatial resolution in the en face and cross-sectional views. It can also provide three-dimensional reconstructed images and a large field of view (FOV) by stitching tomograms side by side. We validated the imaging power of this prototype in in vivo rat and rabbit eyes, and quantified anatomical characteristics such as corneal layer thickness, endothelial cell density and the intensity profile of different layers. This FF-OCT delineated the ridge-like structure of POV, corneal nerve bundles, and conjunctival vessels in rat eyes. It also clearly identified the vessel walls and red blood cells in rabbit model of corneal NV. The findings provided by this FF-OCT are expected to facilitate corneal disease diagnosis and treatment.