Optic axis uniformity as a metric to improve the contrast of birefringent structures and analyze the retinal nerve fiber layer in polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

Joy Willemse, Maximilian G. O. Gräfe, Jacoba A. van de Kreeke, Fabio Feroldi, Frank D. Verbraak, Johannes F. de Boer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A new metric is used to improve the contrast of birefringent structures in biological tissue using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. This metric, optic axis uniformity (OAxU), is based on the optic axis of birefringence and quantifies the uniformity of the optic axis direction. OAxU provides surprisingly strong contrast for fibrous structures such as muscle and the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL). We used OAxU for automatic segmentation of the RNFL in human eyes. From the segmentation, en face images of RNFL thickness and RNFL birefringence were created. The measured birefringence values are consistent with earlier reports.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3893-3896
Number of pages4
JournalOptics Letters
Volume44
Issue number15
Early online date9 Jul 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2019

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