Ophthalmic imaging apparatus and ophthalmic image processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018070818-A1
Application number	US-201715680349-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 18, 2017
Priority date	Sep 9, 2016
Publication date	Mar 15, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

An ophthalmic imaging apparatus of an embodiment includes a data acquisition unit, a blood vessel enhanced image forming unit, and a blood vessel gradient distribution determination unit. The data acquisition unit is configured to acquire a three dimensional data set of a fundus of a subject's eye using optical coherence tomography (OCT). The blood vessel enhanced image forming unit is configured to form a blood vessel enhanced image based on the three dimensional data set. The blood vessel gradient distribution determination unit is configured to determine a blood vessel gradient distribution that shows gradients of blood vessels at a plurality of locations in the fundus, based on the blood vessel enhanced image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An ophthalmic imaging apparatus comprising:
a data acquisition unit configured to acquire a three dimensional data set of a fundus of a subject's eye using optical coherence tomography (OCT); a blood vessel enhanced image forming unit configured to form a blood vessel enhanced image based on the three dimensional data set; and a blood vessel gradient distribution determination unit configured to determine a blood vessel gradient distribution that shows gradients of blood vessels at a plurality of locations in the fundus, based on the blood vessel enhanced image.

2 . The ophthalmic imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the blood vessel gradient distribution determination unit determines an angle of a blood vessel against an axial scan direction at each of the plurality of locations.

3 . The ophthalmic imaging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a front image acquisition unit configured to acquire a front image of the fundus; and a first display controller configured to display the blood vessel gradient distribution and the front image on a display device.

4 . The ophthalmic imaging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a location determination unit configured to determine one or more locations in the fundus where gradients satisfy a predetermined condition, based on the blood vessel gradient distribution.

5 . The ophthalmic imaging apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
a front image acquisition unit configured to acquire a front image of the fundus; and a second display controller configured to display an image showing the one or more locations and the front image on a display device.

6 . The ophthalmic imaging apparatus of claim 4 , wherein
the predetermined condition includes gradient range information for performing OCT blood flow measurement, and the location determination unit determines the one or more locations based on the blood vessel gradient distribution and the gradient range information.

7 . The ophthalmic imaging apparatus of claim 4 , wherein
the predetermined condition includes local gradient distribution information for making a diagnosis, and the location determination unit determines the one or more locations based on the blood vessel gradient distribution and the local gradient distribution information.

8 . The ophthalmic imaging apparatus of claim 4 , wherein
the predetermined condition includes chronological gradient variation information for making a diagnosis, and the location determination unit determines the one or more locations based on two or more blood vessel gradient distributions of the fundus obtained on different dates and the chronological gradient variation information.

9 . The ophthalmic imaging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a third display controller configured to display the two or more blood vessel gradient distributions of the fundus obtained on different dates or difference information based on the two or more blood vessel gradient distributions on a display device.

10 . The ophthalmic imaging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a fourth display controller configured to display one or more partial blood vessel gradient distributions corresponding to one or more depth regions of the fundus on a display device, based on the blood vessel gradient distribution.

11 . An ophthalmic image processing apparatus comprising:
a data reception unit configured to receive a three dimensional data set of a fundus of a subject's eye acquired using optical coherence tomography (OCT); a blood vessel enhanced image forming unit configured to form a blood vessel enhanced image based on the three dimensional data set; and a blood vessel gradient distribution determination unit configured to determine a blood vessel gradient distribution that shows gradients of blood vessels at a plurality of locations in the fundus, based on the blood vessel enhanced image.

Assignees

• Topcon Corp

Inventors

• Sakai Jun

Classifications

• A61B3/102

  for optical coherence tomography [OCT] · CPC title

• G06T2207/30041

  Eye; Retina; Ophthalmic · CPC title

• G06T2207/20192

  Edge enhancement; Edge preservation · CPC title

• G06T2207/30104

  Vascular flow; Blood flow; Perfusion · CPC title

• G06T7/73

  using feature-based methods · CPC title