Evaluation of retinal pigment epithelium changes in serous pigment epithelial detachment using synthesized multi-contrast polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

Abstract Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) melanin thickness maps, derived from multi-contrast images—including the degree of polarization uniformity (DOPU), optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography, and the attenuation coefficient—are obtained using multi-contrast polarization-sensitive OCT (P...

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Main Authors: Kosei Yanagida, Masahiro Miura, Hidetaka Noma, Toshihiro Mino, Shinnosuke Azuma, Thitiya Seesan, Shuichi Makita, Yoshiaki Yasuno
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09302-6
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Summary:Abstract Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) melanin thickness maps, derived from multi-contrast images—including the degree of polarization uniformity (DOPU), optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography, and the attenuation coefficient—are obtained using multi-contrast polarization-sensitive OCT (PS-OCT). These maps have demonstrated utility for three-dimensional assessment of changes in melanin within the RPE (RPE-melanin). While both OCT angiography and the attenuation coefficient can be derived from conventional OCT, measuring the DOPU requires PS-OCT, which is not available on standard commercial OCT systems. To overcome this limitation, we utilized a convolutional neural network to generate DOPU-like images from standard OCT images and used these to calculate a synthesized RPE-melanin thickness map. We evaluated 22 eyes from 20 patients with serous pigment epithelial detachment (PED) secondary to age-related macular degeneration. Both original and synthesized RPE-melanin thickness maps were calculated from multi-contrast PS-OCT datasets. Active RPE lesions were defined as areas with RPE-melanin thickness of ≥ 70 μm (originalRPE70 and synRPE70 for the original and synthesized maps, respectively). Both synthesized and original RPE-melanin thickness maps closely resembled near-infrared autofluorescence imaging. Furthermore, both the originalRPE70 area and synRPE70 area were significantly positively correlated with the PED volume. Synthesized RPE-melanin thickness maps may be useful for clinical quantification of RPE-melanin.
ISSN:2045-2322