Method of observing a three-dimensional image of examinee's eye

• US 9,125,593 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2011
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nidek Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nidek Company Limited
• Inventors: Isogai, Naoki, Hanebuchi, Masaaki, Murata, Toshio
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAWAN, SHEELA C
• Application Number:
  US13/247,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20120083667A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,441 Days
• Field of Search: 382/173, 382/181, 382/255, 382/276, 382/154, 351/200, 351/205, 351/211, 351/206, 351/221, 351/208, 351/209, 351/246, 351/212, 351/210, 351/214, 351/222, 351/239, 351/237, 351/243, 348/65, 206/455, 324/309, 324/307, 600/410, 600/109, 396/106, 396/18
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/0025 characterised by electronic signal processing, e.g. eye models
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/0058 for multiple images
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/1005 for measuring distances inside the eye, e.g. thickness of the cornea A61B3/11 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/102 for optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/117 for examining the anterior chamber or the anterior chamber angle, e.g. gonioscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/12 for looking at the eye fundus, e.g. ophthalmoscopes A61B3/13 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/14 Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography apparatus or arrangements for taking photographs per se G03B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/18 Arrangement of plural eye-testing or -examining apparatus

Abstract

A method of observing a three-dimensional image of an examinee'"'"'s eye to be examined, includes: obtaining a first three-dimensional image which is a three-dimensional image of an anterior segment of the examinee'"'"'s eye by optical coherence tomography for obtaining a tomographic image by converging a measurement light on the anterior segment of the examinee'"'"'s eye; obtaining a second three-dimensional image which is a three-dimensional image of a fundus of the examinee'"'"'s eye by optical coherence tomography for obtaining a tomographic image by converging the measurement light on the fundus of the examinee'"'"'s eye by a timing different from a timing of obtaining the first three-dimensional image; constructing a three-dimensional eyeball image of the examinee'"'"'s eye through image processing based on the obtained first and second three-dimensional images; and displaying the constructed three-dimensional eyeball image on a monitor.

Claims

1. A method of observing a three-dimensional image of an examinee'"'"'s eye to be examined, including:

obtaining a first three-dimensional image which is a three-dimensional image of an anterior segment of the examinee'"'"'s eye by an optical coherence tomography optical system for obtaining a tomographic image by guiding a measurement light to the anterior segment of the examinee'"'"'s eye;

obtaining a second three-dimensional image which is a three-dimensional image of a fundus of the examinee'"'"'s eye by the optical coherence tomography optical system for obtaining a tomographic image by guiding the measurement light to the fundus of the examinee'"'"'s eye by a timing different from a timing of obtaining the first three-dimensional image;

constructing a three-dimensional eyeball image of the examinee'"'"'s eye through image processing based on the obtained first and second three-dimensional images; and

displaying the constructed three-dimensional eyeball image on a monitor.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the obtained three-dimensional images are analyzed through image processing, and

a part of the eyeball image corresponding to a site of the examinee'"'"'s eye where an abnormality is detected by the analysis is displayed on the monitor in a highlighted manner.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein

an analysis for detecting a predefined eye disorder is performed to both the first and second three-dimensional images,

an analysis result of the first three-dimensional image and an analysis result of the second three-dimensional image are subjected to an integrated analysis, and

a result of the integrated analysis is displayed on the monitor.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the first three-dimensional image is processed to analyze thicknesses of layers of the fundus and the second three-dimensional image is processed to analyze an opening degree of gonioangle in order to perform an analysis for detecting glaucoma,

the thicknesses of the layers of the fundus and the opening degree of gonioangle are subjected to an integrated analysis, and

a result of the integrated analysis is displayed on the monitor.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein

a part of the eyeball image corresponding to a site of the examinee'"'"'s eye where an abnormality is detected by the analysis is displayed on the monitor in a highlighted manner.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein

a B scan tomographic image in a traverse direction in a whole eye is displayed on the monitor based on the three-dimensional eyeball image.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein

the three-dimensional eyeball image and the B scan tomographic image are simultaneously displayed on the monitor.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein

a template image for correcting a relative positional shift between the first and second three-dimensional images is obtained, and

a relative positional shift between the first and second three-dimensional images is corrected based on the template image.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein

the template image is one of three-dimensional image data of a whole eye, a front image of the anterior segment, and a front image of the fundus.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein

a tomographic image of the examinee'"'"'s eye obtained by a technique different from the optical coherence tomography optical system is synthesized with the three-dimensional eyeball image.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein

a distance between the first and second three-dimensional images constituting the three-dimensional eyeball image is set based on information of a distance between the anterior segment and the fundus measured by an eye distance measuring device.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein

a tomographic image of a whole eye including a region from a cornea through the fundus is obtained by the optical coherence tomography optical system having an imaging range from the cornea through the fundus, and

an anterior segment region in the obtained tomographic image of the whole eye and the first three-dimensional image are subjected to a matching process, and the fundus region in the obtained tomographic image of the whole eye and the second three-dimensional image are subjected to a matching process.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein

the optical coherence tomography optical system is a swept source optical coherence tomography optical system having a wavelength-variable light source,

a wavelength width of a light emitted from the wavelength-variable light source and the number of sampling points in the wavelength width are set so that the whole eye including the region from the cornea through the fundus is included in the imaging range in a depth direction when the tomographic image of the whole eye is obtained, and

the wavelength width of the light emitted from the wavelength-variable light source and the number of sampling points in the wavelength width are set so that the imaging range in the depth direction corresponds to respective sites of the examinee'"'"'s eye when the first and second three-dimensional images are obtained.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein

a positional shift of a tomographic image of a whole eye is corrected by image processing so that a shape of a corneal surface is equal to a three-dimensional shape of the corneal surface obtained by a corneal topography.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein

optical information of the examinee'"'"'s eye and optical information of an intraocular lens, and a simulation of an intraocular lens operation is performed, and

a graphic representing the intraocular lens is synthesized with an anterior segment region of the outputted three-dimensional eyeball image.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein

a prospective postoperative outcome depending on a location of the intraocular lens.

17. A method of observing a three-dimensional image of an examinee'"'"'s eye to be examined, including:

obtaining a tomographic image of a whole eye including a region from a cornea through a fundus by an optical coherence tomography optical system having an imaging range from the cornea through the fundus; and

performing at least one of

a matching process of an anterior segment region in the obtained tomographic image of the whole eye and a first three-dimensional image which is a three-dimensional image of an anterior segment of the examinee'"'"'s eye obtained by the optical coherence tomography optical system, and

a matching process of the fundus region in the obtained tomographic image of the whole eye and a second three-dimensional image which is a three-dimensional image of the fundus of the examinee'"'"'s eye obtained by the optical coherence tomography optical system by a timing different from a timing of obtaining the first three-dimensional image.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein

the optical coherence tomography optical system is a swept source optical coherence tomography optical system having a wavelength-variable light source,

a wavelength width of a light emitted from the wavelength-variable light source and the number of sampling points in the wavelength width are set so that the whole eye including the region from the cornea through the fundus is included in the imaging range in a depth direction when the tomographic image of the whole eye is obtained, and

the wavelength width of the light emitted from the wavelength-variable light source and the number of sampling points in the wavelength width are set so that the imaging range in the depth direction corresponds to respective sites of the examinee'"'"'s eye when the first and second three-dimensional images are obtained.