In vivo high-definition 3D corneal imaging

角膜是我们视觉系统最外面的窗口，很容易受到各种类型的感染和疾病的影响。 角膜疾病是导致视力缺陷和失明的主要原因之一，被认为是第二大原因 在发展中国家导致失明的主要原因。有近500万名双眼角膜盲人 据估计，全球约有2300万人患有单侧角膜失明。在一个保守的人 据估计，美国近30万人受到角膜疾病的影响，其中富克斯营养不良影响 4%的人年龄在40岁以上。鉴于角膜疾病的广泛流行和几乎不可能发生的 在进行活检时，需要高清晰度角膜成像来辅助临床诊断，评估进展情况 疾病和治疗。此外，角膜是世界上最常见的移植组织。 Gabor域光学相干显微镜(GDOCM)是一种高分辨率、无创的成像技术 可以在体内三维可视化微观结构的技术。初步数据表明，GDOCM具有以下特点 与现有的角膜成像技术(包括镜面显微镜和共焦显微镜)相比的主要优势：1) 视野扩大10-100倍-这将导致更准确地鉴定角膜组织，因为更大的 2)同时测量角膜厚度，内皮细胞密度定量， 以及识别由于角膜疾病引起的形态变化-这将导致全面的角膜评估 在一台仪器中；3)半透明角膜细胞马赛克细胞水平的3D成像能力-这 将使人们能够详细了解疾病的体积进展。 我们已经组建了一支非常强大的临床研究团队，就这项提议进行合作，并且 在他们的帮助下，我们已经确定了我们的双重成像技术在临床上应用的四个案例 具有体积细胞分辨率的角膜。我们设想在未来，双OCT(光学相干 断层扫描)和GDOCM仪器将通过此第二阶段SBIR方案提供图像指导 方法协助临床医生评估和治疗影响角膜疾病和其他疾病 眼前节，包括糖尿病和青光眼。

The cornea, the outermost window of our visual system, is vulnerable to various types of infections and diseases. Corneal disease is one of the leading causes of visual deficiency and blindness, and is considered the second major cause of blindness in developing countries. There are nearly 5 million bilaterally corneal blind persons worldwide, and an estimated 23 million people affected by unilateral corneal blindness globally. In a conservative estimate, corneal diseases affect nearly 300,000 people in the United States, with Fuchs’ dystrophy affecting 4% of people aged over 40. Given the large prevalence of corneal disease and the near-impossibility of performing biopsy, high-definition corneal imaging is needed to assist clinical diagnosis, evaluate progression of diseases, and treatment. Additionally, the cornea is the most commonly transplanted tissue worldwide. Gabor-domain optical coherence microscopy (GDOCM) is a high-resolution, non-invasive imaging technology that can visualize microscopic structures in vivo in 3D. Preliminary data suggest that GDOCM has the following key advantages over existing corneal imaging techniques, which include specular and confocal microscopy: 1) 10-100x increase in field of view – this will lead to more accurate qualification of the corneal tissue, since a larger area can be assessed; 2) simultaneous measure of corneal thickness, quantification of endothelial cell density, as well as identification of morphological variations due to corneal disease – this will lead to full corneal evaluation in one instrument; 3) 3D imaging capability at the cellular level of the mosaic of translucent corneal cells – this will enable a detailed understanding the volumetric progression of the diseases. We have assembled an exceptionally strong team of clinical investigators to collaborate on this proposal, and with their help we have identified four use cases for clinical application of our dual-imaging technology to image the cornea with volumetric cellular-resolution. We envision that in the future the dual OCT (optical coherence tomography) and GDOCM instrument enabled by this Phase II SBIR proposal will provide an image-guidance method to assist clinicians in the assessment and treatment of corneal diseases and other diseases affecting the anterior segment of the eye, including diabetes and glaucoma.