Ocular Imaging
Chorioretinal imaging has a crucial role for the patients with chorioretinal vascular diseases such as neovascular age-related macular degeneration, but current approaches to imaging the eye such as optical coherence tomography are largely anatomic techniques with limited molecular-level insight. Imaging oxygen gradients in the eye could better diagnose and treat ocular diseases. We have recently used photoacoustic ocular imaging to measure chorioretinal oxygen saturation and observed good correlation between pulse oximetry and the photoacoustic signal as a function of oxygen tension. We further validated this approach using an in vivo model of increased intraocular pressure. These data suggest that photacoustics can detect changes in chorioretinal oxygenation and may be useful for application to imaging oxygen gradients in ocular disease.
