Chengdu Aier East Eye Hospital

 

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is swiftly improving the diagnosis of glaucoma, according to Joel S. Schuman, MD, who helped invent the technology.

 

“It’s the most rapidly adopted ophthalmic technology in history,” said Dr. Schuman, professor and chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, NYU Langone Medical Center, NY.

Already, OCT studies have yielded key insights into the relationships of retinal nerve fiber layer thinning and vessel density to visual field loss, Dr. Schuman said.

 

Delivering the Drs. Henry and Frederick Sutro Memorial Lecture at the 6th Annual Glaucoma 360 New Horizons Forum, Dr. Schuman recounted his role in the development of OCT and outlined some of its major findings.

 

He defined OCT as a form of optical biopsy—“the in situ imaging of tissue microstructure with a resolution approaching that of histology, but in real time, without the need for tissue excision and processing.”