Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging has transformed many aspects of medicine. It is similar in principle to ultrasound, but instead of measuring sound reflectance to identify differences in tissue density, it uses light in the near-infrared part of the spectrum to generate 2 and 3 dimensional images of tissues. The test is rapid and non-invasive. In UKBB a modern form of OCT called spectral domain or fourier domain imaging to rapidly generate high resolution images of the the central part of the retina (also called the macula).
Changes in different layers of the macula occur in common age-related diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR) and glaucoma. We will be using OCT images from UKBB to study these three conditions. To do this, we will study the thickness of the retina and its component layers in people with and without eye disease. The measurement of total retinal thickness is a standard measure used in hospitals and clinics around the world. The measurement of retinal sub-layer thicknesses is more complex, and often reserved for research. Previously, detailed analysis by expert technicians and scientists was required to identify retinal sublayers. Because of the very large number of images in UKBB, this approach was not feasible.
We have therefore collaborated with the manufacturers of the OCT device used in UKBB (Topcon), throughout their Advanced Imaging Laboratory in New Jersey, USA, to perform rapid, fully-automated retinal sublayer analysis on the OCT images. This has proven remarkably successful, as attached reports (see below) show.
