Automated retinal shadow compensation of optical coherence tomography images

Abstract

We present an automated numerical method of compensating for retinal shadows in the choroid. In this method, signal extinction caused by retinal vessels is estimated by subtracting median A-scans obtained from beneath the retinal vessels and A-scans from the surrounding area. Adding the obtained offset vector to A-scans from beneath the retinal vessels allows compensating for shadows in the choroid. In vivo imaging of the human eye was performed by 840-nm-band standard resolution spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and choroidal vasculature projection images were calculated. Removal of retinal shadows distinctly improved the readability of choroidal images.