FUNDUS OBSERVATION APPARATUS

• US 20110170062A1
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Published: 07/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nidek Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nidek Company Limited
• Inventors: MURATA, Toshio, ISOGAI, Naoki
• Granted Patent: US 8,419,186 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 351/206
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/102 for optical coherence tomography [OCT]

Abstract

A fundus observation apparatus that is capable of assisting an examiner in judging the presence or absence of abnormality in an examinee'"'"'s eye based on a fundus tomographic image. The fundus observation apparatus includes an optical coherence tomography device that has an optical scanner for setting an image pickup position on a fundus of an examinee'"'"'s eye, and is arranged to obtain a tomographic image of the fundus, and an information display unit that is arranged to display on a monitor the tomographic image obtained by the optical coherence tomography device and assisting information for assisting an examiner in performing judgment on the tomographic image, and the information display unit is arranged to change the assisting information based on image pickup information on the tomographic image.

Claims

1. A fundus observation apparatus comprising:

an optical coherence tomography device that has an optical scanner for setting an image pickup position on a fundus of an examinee'"'"'s eye, and is arranged to obtain a tomographic image of the fundus; and

an information display unit that is arranged to display on a monitor the tomographic image obtained by the optical coherence tomography device and assisting information for assisting an examiner in performing judgment on the tomographic image,

wherein the information display unit is arranged to change the assisting information based on image pickup information on the tomographic image.

2. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pickup information is at least one of fixation position information and image pickup portion information on the examinee'"'"'s eye.

3. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an arithmetic analysis unit that is arranged to detect information on layers of the fundus in the tomographic image through image processing, and determines the tomographic image by determining the detected layer information by a given determination criterion,

wherein

the arithmetic analysis unit is arranged to change the determination criterion based on at least the image pickup information, and

the information display unit is arranged to display a first determination result obtained by the arithmetic analysis unit as the assisting information on the monitor.

4. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the arithmetic analysis unit uses a normal eye database as the determination criterion.

5. The fundus observation apparatus according to. claim 3, further comprising a control unit that is arranged to control driving of the optical scanner to change the image pickup position on the fundus,

wherein

the arithmetic analysis unit is arranged to specify an abnormal portion in the tomographic image based on the first determination result or specify a characteristic portion in the tomographic image through the image processing, and

the control unit is arranged to adjust the image pickup position so as to obtain the tomographic image including one of the abnormal portion and the characteristic portion that are specified by the arithmetic analysis unit.

6. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

the control unit is arranged to obtain a first tomographic image of a wide range of the fundus by two-dimensionally scanning measurement light on the fundus using the optical scanner,

the arithmetic analysis unit is arranged to specify one of the abnormal portion and the characteristic portion in the first tomographic image, and

the control unit is arranged to obtain a second tomographic image by scanning the measurement light in a scanning range corresponding to the portion specified by the arithmetic analysis unit.

7. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the arithmetic analysis unit is arranged to determine the second tomographic image and obtain a second determination result, and

the information display unit is arranged to display the first and second tomographic images and the first and second determination results that are obtained by the arithmetic analysis unit.

8. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit is arranged to set the scanning range for obtaining the second tomographic image to be a scanning range that is narrower than the scanning range for obtaining the first tomographic image and includes the whole specified portion.

9. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit is arranged to set a scanning pattern of the measurement light according to the specified portion.

10. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the arithmetic analysis unit is arranged to specify a region corresponding to a macula portion in the first tomographic image through the image processing, and perform determination appropriate to the specified region.

11. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the arithmetic analysis unit is arranged to specify a region corresponding to a papilla portion in the first tomographic image through the image processing, and perform determination appropriate to the specified region.

12. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit is arranged to set the scanning range for obtaining the second tomographic image by obtaining a scanning position of the optical scanner corresponding to the specified port ion based on a relation between the first tomographic image and a scanning position of the optical scanner.

13. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit is arranged to perform matching between a tomographic image corresponding to the specified portion in the first tomographic image and a tomographic image obtained when obtaining the second tomographic image through the image processing, and correct a scanning position of the optical scanner so as to obtain a tomographic image at a substantially matching position.

14. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a front fundus image pickup device that is arranged to obtain a front image of the fundus,

wherein the arithmetic analysis unit is arranged to detect brightness information on the front image obtained by the front fundus image pickup device through the image processing, and determine the front image by determining the detected brightness information by a given determination criterion.

15. The fundus observation apparatus according to claim 14, wherein

the arithmetic analysis unit is arranged to specify one of a targeted image pickup portion and the abnormal portion based on determination results of the tomographic image and the front image that are obtained by the arithmetic analysis unit through the image processing, and

the control unit is arranged to adjust the image pickup position so as to obtain the tomographic image including the specified portion.