title: In vivo functional retinal optical coherence tomography.
abstract: An experimental design for noninvasive assessment of neural retinal tissue function with enhanced sensitivity is presented. By matching the response detection to a defined flicker frequency stimulus similar to heterodyne detection, the response signal will be shifted out of the low-frequency noise and the specificity of response detection will be strongly enhanced. Optimal measurement parameters are discussed, such as the function and timing of the response function to a single flash stimulus. The results indicate responses on the order of 200 ms that have been probed with our frequency-encoded approach using 5 Hz flickering. Preliminary results indicate the feasibility of our measurement concept to assess small changes in reflectivity with enhanced sensitivity. A functional tomogram for response localization and quantification is introduced.
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Vienna, Center of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Tilman
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schmoll
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kolbitsch
authors.forename: Rainer A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Leitgeb
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D012160:Retina / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D042262:Retinoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*