New instrumentation for blood-retinal barrier permeability analysis.

Bernardes R., Lobo C., Dias J., Cunha-Vaz J.

The aim of the work herein presented is to assess the blood-retinal barrier (BRB) of the human eye in vivo. In order to quantitatively evaluate the BRB function, a confocal scanning laser ophthaimoscope instrument was used. The instrument was changed from the basic instrument to increase confocality and to change the starting plane of acquisition after focusing on the patient retinal surface. After a complete scan, a volumetric image of 32 confocal planes of 256 by 256 pixels of 1 byte in width is processed in four steps. The full procedure described permits us to compute the total amount of fluorescein that penetrates into the human vitreous after intravenous administration of dye. A single scan is required for the whole procedure. This new system allows for better identification of the central leaking sites in diabetes, showing well their relationship with the retinal vasculature.

The 2nd European Medical & Biological Engineering Conference (EMBEC’02), Vienna, Austria, December 4-8, 2002, Proc Vol 2, 994-995.

2002