Nonlinear distortion correction for posterior eye segment optical coherence tomography with application to tree shrews

Abstract

We propose an empirical distortion correction approach for optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices that use a fan-scanning pattern to image the posterior eye segment. Two types of reference markers were used to empirically estimate the distortion correction approach in tree shrew eyes: retinal curvature from MRI images and implanted glass beads of known diameter. Performance was tested by correcting distorted images of the optic nerve head. In small animal eyes, our purposed method effectively reduced nonlinear distortions compared to a linear scaling method. No commercial posterior segment OCT provides anatomically correct images, which may bias the 3D interpretation of these scans. Our method can effectively reduce such bias.