Visualization of Real-Time Intraoperative Maneuvers with a Microscope-Mounted Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography System

The advent of optical coherence tomography (OCT) has revolutionized our diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities in ophthalmology and vitreoretinal disease. In the clinic setting, OCT has touched nearly every aspect of vitreoretinal disease. More recently, OCT has been introduced the operating room theater. Intraoperative OCT (iOCT) has been used to successfully further our understanding of optic pit maculopathy, macular holes, epiretinal membranes, and retinopathy of prematurity.1–6 Limited systems are available for intraoperative use. All commercially available systems are handheld OCT devices or modified tabletop units, which allow for intraoperative imaging but require cessation of the surgical procedure to complete imaging. This precludes real-time feedback to the surgeon of the anatomical impact of surgical maneuvers and increases the duration of the surgical procedure. A microscope-mounted/integrated OCT (MMOCT) system allows for the integration of OCT into the real-time surgical platform.7,8 At the time of this report, two unique prototype systems have been described in the literature.5,7,8 Using a prototype MMOCT system, we previously demonstrated the feasibility of intraoperative imaging of surgical instruments, retinal effects of surgical contact, and primarily static surgical steps.7 To further seamlessly integrate OCT into the surgical platform, visualization of intraoperative motion and manipulation will be critical. Another critical component of integration will include the rapid localization of the surgical area of interest with the intraoperative spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT) device and quantitative information regarding the relative locations of the surgical instruments to the retinal tissue layers of interest. In this report, we describe a novel technique for visualizing intraoperative motion of surgical instruments with an MMOCT system.