A portable widefield fundus camera with high dynamic range imaging capability

TL;DR

This paper introduces a portable, widefield fundus camera with high dynamic range imaging that enhances image contrast and FOV coverage, aiding early detection of eye diseases without requiring pupil dilation.

Contribution

The work presents a novel portable fundus camera combining widefield imaging and HDR capabilities, improving early disease detection and clinical usability.

Findings

Achieved 101° eye-angle FOV in a portable device

Validated HDR imaging effectiveness on healthy and pathological eyes

Expanded effective FOV up to 190° with fixation target

Abstract

Fundus photography is indispensable for clinical detection and management of eye diseases. Limited image contrast and field of view (FOV) are common limitations of conventional fundus cameras, making it difficult to detect subtle abnormalities at the early stages of eye diseases. Further improvements of image contrast and FOV coverage are important to improve early disease detection and reliable treatment assessment. We report here a portable fundus camera, with a wide FOV and high dynamic range (HDR) imaging capabilities. Miniaturized indirect ophthalmoscopy illumination was employed to achieve the portable design for nonmydriatic, widefield fundus photography. Orthogonal polarization control was used to eliminate illumination reflectance artifact. With independent power controls, three fundus images were sequentially acquired and fused to achieve HDR function for local image contrast enhancement. A 101{\deg} eye-angle (67{\deg} visual-angle) snapshot FOV was achieved for nonmydriatic fundus photography. The effective FOV can be readily expanded up to 190{\deg} eye-angle (134{\deg} visual-angle) with the aid of a fixation target, without the need of pharmacologic pupillary dilation. The effectiveness of HDR imaging was validated with both normal healthy and pathologic eyes, compared to a conventional fundus camera.