Characterization and Analysis of Retinal Axial Motion at High Spatiotemporal Resolution and Its Implication for Real-Time Correction in Human Retinal Imaging

High-resolution ophthalmic imaging devices including spectral-domain and full-field optical coherence tomography (SDOCT and FFOCT) are adversely affected by the presence of continuous involuntary retinal axial motion. Here, we thoroughly quantify and characterize retinal axial motion with both high temporal resolution (200,000 A-scans/s) and high axial resolution (4.5 mu m), recorded over a typical data acquisition duration of 3 s with an SDOCT device over 14 subjects. We demonstrate that although breath-holding can help decrease large-and-slow drifts, it increases small-and-fast fluctuations, which is not ideal when motion compensation is desired. Finally, by simulating the action of an axial motion stabilization control loop, we show that a loop rate of 1.2 kHz is ideal to achieve 100% robust clinical in-vivo retinal imaging.

Automated summary

This study thoroughly quantifies and characterizes the effects of retinal axial motion on high-resolution ophthalmic imaging devices, and finds that breath-holding can reduce large-and-slow drifts but increase small-and-fast fluctuations. By simulating a control loop, the study determines that a loop rate of 1.2 kHz is ideal for achieving 100% robust clinical retinal imaging.