A Method for Morphometric Assessment of Pathological Conditions of the Retina and Choroid Based on Scans of Optical Coherence Tomography of the Eye

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a modern non-contact method of diagnostic examination which makes it possible to visualize a section of the retina as close as possible to its post-mortem histological section, and enables to distinguish individual layers of the human retina in a cross-section. The software pre-installed in such devices contains many different tools, but this is still not enough for a faster, more complete and accurate analysis of the obtained scans in order to make the correct diagnosis and choose the best treatment. There are more and more new and improved technologies for image processing in the world, which sets new tasks to develop additional software that can complement and expand the functionality of diagnostic equipment. This paper proposes a method of morphometric assessment of pathological conditions of the retina and chorioidea based on optical coherence tomography scans. This method is based on the algorithm for automated segmentation of the borders of the macular macular zone pathological focus, the algorithm for calculation of the area and volume of the pathological focus which together with other algorithms for analysis of the morphometric parameters of the human eye can be used for differential diagnostics of the pathological changes in the macular zone, for more precise diagnosis of the age-related macular degeneration (AMD) stage to prescribe a certain type and volume of treatment for stabilization and improvement of the central pontine visual functions.