Skin pore imaging using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography: a case report

Sebum is an important component of the skin that has attracted attention in many fields, including dermatology and cosmetics. Pore expansion due to sebum on the skin can lead to various problems. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the morphological characteristics of sebum. In this study, we used optical coherence tomography (OCT) to evaluate facial sebum areas. We obtained the OCT maximum amplitude projection (MAP) image and a cross-sectional image of skin pores in the facial area. Subsequently, we detected the sebum in skin pores using the detection algorithm of the ImageJ software to quantitatively determine the size of randomly selected pores in the proposed MAP images. Additionally, the pore size was analyzed by acquiring images before and after facial sebum extraction. According to our research, facial sebum can be morphologically described using the OCT system. Since OCT imaging enables specific analysis of skin parameters, including pores and sebum, skin analysis employing OCT could be an effective method for further research.

RetFluidNet: Retinal Fluid Segmentation for SD-OCT Images Using Convolutional Neural Network

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness and is characterized by fluid-related accumulations such as intra-retinal fluid (IRF), subretinal fluid (SRF), and pigment epithelial detachment (PED). Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) is the primary modality used to diagnose AMD, yet it does not have algorithms that directly detect and quantify the fluid. This work presents an improved convolutional neural network (CNN)-based architecture called RetFluidNet to segment three types of fluid abnormalities from SD-OCT images. The model assimilates different skip-connect operations and atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP) to integrate multi-scale contextual information; thus, achieving the best performance. This work also investigates between consequential and comparatively inconsequential hyperparameters and skip-connect techniques for fluid segmentation from the SD-OCT image to indicate the starting choice for future related researches. RetFluidNet was trained and tested on SD-OCT images from 124 patients and achieved an accuracy of 80.05%, 92.74%, and 95.53% for IRF, PED, and SRF, respectively. RetFluidNet showed significant improvement over competitive works to be clinically applicable in reasonable accuracy and time efficiency. RetFluidNet is a fully automated method that can support early detection and follow-up of AMD.

Surgical outcomes in patients with lamellar macular holes selected based on the optical coherence tomography consensus definition

Purpose

The surgical indication for lamellar macular holes (LMH) is controversial due to a misclassification of different macular diseases. A consensus based on an optical coherence tomography (OCT) definition has recently been suggested. The aim of this study was to investigate the surgical outcomes of patients with LMH selected based on this OCT-based consensus definition.

Methods

Retrospective review of patients who underwent surgery for LMH with a follow-up of at least 3 months. Anatomical OCT criteria for the diagnosis of LMH were the presence of an irregular foveal contour with foveal cavitation and a loss of retinal tissue. Cases of macular pseudoholes and epiretinal membrane foveoschisis were excluded. Surgery consisted in pars plana vitrectomy with centripetal peri-hole peeling of epiretinal proliferation and internal limiting membrane. Pre- and postoperative visual acuities (VA) were compared, and changes in OCT anatomical features, including the restoration of the foveal profile and outer retinal layers, were assessed.

Results

Eleven eyes of 11 patients were included, of which 9 eyes (81.8%) showed proliferation on preoperative OCT. The mean VA improved from 0.44 ± 0.19 LogMAR (20/55 Snellen equivalent) to 0.16 ± 0.08 LogMAR (20/28 Snellen equivalent), after a mean follow-up of 7.2 ± 2.9 months (P = 0.02). Postoperatively, all eyes showed a restored foveal profile. The mean central foveal thickness increased from 127.6 ± 29.9 μm to 209.0 ± 44.0 μm (P = 0.001). At baseline, ellipsoid zone disruption and external limiting membrane disruption were found in 9 and 7 eyes, respectively. Postoperatively, the ellipsoid zone and external limiting membrane were restored in respectively 6/9 eyes (66.7%) and 5/7 eyes (71.4%). No cases of postoperative full-thickness macular hole were found.

Conclusion

In patients with LMH carefully selected based on the recent OCT-based criteria and showing a loss of retinal tissue, the foveal architecture was restored and the VA was improved after vitrectomy with peri-hole peeling for epiretinal proliferation.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40942-021-00297-6.

Retinal layers in prolactinoma patients: a spectral-domain optical coherence tomography study

PURPOSE

Prolactinoma is a type of pituitary tumour that produces an excessive amount of the hormone prolactin. It is the most common type of hormonally-active pituitary tumour. These tumours can cause ocular complications such as vision loss and visual fields (VF) defect. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the thickness of chorioretinal layers in patients with prolactinoma.

METHODS

We enrolled 63 eyes of 32 prolactinoma patients and 36 eyes of 18 age and gender-matched healthy controls. All participants underwent complete hormonal and ophthalmological examination, including spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and VF test.The complete biochemical response was defined as serum PRL concentration ≤ 20 ng/mL at the time of evaluation.The seven layers were retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL), ganglion cell layer (GCL), inner plexiform layer (IPL), inner nuclear layer (INL), outer plexiform layer (OPL), outer nuclear layer (ONL), and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The results of prolactinoma patients were compared with the control group.

RESULTS

The mean RNFL, GCL, IPL, INL, ONL, and RPE were thinner in prolactinoma patients than the control group (p < 0.05) while OPL was similar between groups (p > 0.05).None of the patients had VF defect.The thickness of retinal layers was similar in patients with and without complete biochemical response (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is the first study that evaluates the thickness of chorioretinal layers in patients with prolactinoma.Most of the layers were thinner than the control group.Therefore, detailed eye assessment should be a routine component of the follow-up visits of prolactinoma patients and further studies related to this condition are required.

Segmented retinal layer analysis of chiasmal compressive optic neuropathy in pituitary adenoma patients

AIMS

To evaluate changes in the segmented retinal layers of pituitary adenoma (PA) patients and to identify the relationship between these changes and visual function.

METHODS

A total of 47 (PA patients) and 22 (healthy subjects) eyes were reviewed from the medical records. The PA patients performed a visual field (VF) test before surgery and 1 month after surgery. By optical coherence tomography scanning, eight retinal layers were measured: retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), ganglion cell layer (GCL), inner plexiform layer (IPL), inner nuclear layer (INL), outer plexiform layer, outer nuclear layer, retinal pigment epithelium, and photoreceptor layer.

RESULTS

The PA group showed reduced RNFL, GCL, and IPL thicknesses (p = 0.004,< 0.001,< 0.001) and thicker INL thickness (p = 0.012) than did the controls. The mean deviation of preoperative VF in the PA group was positively correlated with RNFL, GCL, and IPL thicknesses (R = 0.664, 0.720, 0.664; p < 0.001,< 0.001,< 0.001) and negatively correlated with the INL thickness (R = -0.400; p = 0.010). Among the 47 eyes, 32 eyes (68%) were included for subgroup analysis. Preoperative RNFL, GCL, and IPL thicknesses were thicker in the postoperatively improved VF group (p = 0.019, 0.009, 0.005). The preoperative cutoff values for visual recovery were 23.6 μm for RNFL thickness, 30.6 μm for GCL thickness, and 28.9 μm for IPL thickness.

CONCLUSION

During chiasmal compression, the thickening of the INL has presented in addition to thinning of the inner retinal layers. Also, changes in retinal anatomical structures are related to the extent of VF defect and can be used as a predictor of postoperative visual recovery.

Combined depth imaging of choroid in uveitis

Background

Understanding the changes that occur in the choroid is of paramount importance in various uveitis entities. B-scan ultrasonography and indocyanine green angiography can be used to study choroid. Currently, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography is used as the standard noninvasive technique to study the choroid by enhanced depth imaging.

Our aim was to study the structural visibility of the choroid using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography in the same area of interest in patients with uveitis with posterior segment manifestations using conventional, enhanced depth imaging (EDI), and combined depth imaging (CDI) techniques.

Results

Fifty-eight (58) eyes of 48 patients between age group 9 and 82 years were confirmed cases of uveitis. Out of the 48 patients, 21 (43.75%) were males while 27 (56.25%) were females. Sixteen eyes (27.59%) had intermediate uveitis, 33 (56.9%) had posterior uveitis, and 9 eyes (15.51%) had panuveitis.

For posterior vitreous, there was substantial agreement for all the three groups (kappa value of 0.77, 0.73, and 0.72 in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively). For vitreo retinal interface and inner choroid, there was perfect interobserver agreement, and for outer choroid, there was substantial to almost perfect interobserver agreement (kappa value of 0.71, 0.81, and 0.86 in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively).

Chi-squared test was done to compare the three groups. The method of scanning had a significant effect on the visualization of posterior vitreous and the outer choroid (p < 0.01) and did not have an effect on the visualization of vitreoretinal interface, inner retina, outer retina, and inner choroidal layers (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

The CDI technique alone might provide a good structural visibility compared to normal and EDI scanning done separately in patients with uveitis with posterior segment pathology. CDI OCT technique is thus able to visualize all posterior structures in a single image in patients with uveitis with posterior segment manifestations.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12348-014-0018-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.