Retinal Motion and Microvascular Pulsation Measurements from SLO Image Sequences

Scanning laser ophthalmoscopes (SLOs) provide noninvasive image sequences of the retina with high temporal and spatial resolution. This paper describes recent methods and results for accurate saccade and drift motion estimation of the eye. The proposed method exploits the scanning nature of the SLO and assumes direct access to each scan line as it is received. This approach allows high temporal resolution in estimation of saccadic motion that is used in prediction of landmark motion for extraction of translational and rotational estimates due to drift. The high accuracy achieved leads to the capability to track specific vascular structures of interest during the image sequence. We demonstrate applications in measurement of the amplitude of the venous pulse, often observed in vessels at or near the edge of the optical disk, relative to distance along the vessel. Results are shown for both simulated and real SLO image sequences