Glaucoma Implant Imaging

Glaucoma is a disease of the eye that can have damaging effects to the optic nerve and visual field by increasing the intraocular pressure of the eye. One approach used to alleviate the pressure increase is to surgically install glaucoma implants. These implants provide a pathway for excess fluid to exit the anterior chamber.

Complications with these implants often arise due to the poorly understood healing process of the eye. We hope to gain a better understanding of the eye’s healing response to the implant by evaluating sequences of optical coherence tomography (OCT) images over a 26-week period. To better understand the healing process, the consecutive OCT images will be analyzed using texture analysis code. Preliminary images indicate that OCT can visualize the development of fibrous encapsulation of the implant, tissue erosion and tube position in the anterior chamber. Long-term follow-up is still being pursued. Texture analysis has shown promise in being able to differentiate various types of biological tissues with reasonable accuracy.

A new OCT device has been developed to acquire faster, more accurate images of the eye in rabbit studies. The OCT device consists of a mechanical scaffold designed to allow the imaging fiber to be held in a fixed position with respect to the rabbit eye, with minimal anesthesia. A piezo electric lateral scanning device allows the imaging fiber to be scanned across the tissue so that 2-D images may be acquired. The mechanical scaffold incorporates three degrees of freedom to allow any location or depth in the eye to be imaged with this device.

For additional information contact Kirk Gossage.

Please also refer to Publications for more resources.