# Intraoperative Optical Coherence Tomography for Ophthalmic Surgical Guidance

> **NIH NIH R01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $361,340

## Abstract

The leading causes of low vision and blindness, which include cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular
degeneration, corneal dystrophy, and diabetic retinopathy, affect over 40 million Americans and have an
estimated annual cost of $25 billion for clinical diagnosis and treatment. The prevalence of visual impairment in
adults 40 years and older in the United States is above 3.5% and expected to increase markedly due to
population aging. Although several recent studies have demonstrated the utility of intraoperative OCT (iOCT) for
verifying completion of surgical goals, real-time iOCT feedback is not currently used to guide ophthalmic surgery
because of several fundamental limitations of current-generation iOCT technology: (1) Serial cross-sectional
OCT does not provide sufficient spatial position and orientation feedback to guide surgery. (2) Video-rate
volumetric OCT trades-off sampling density with field-of-view and consistent alignment of small static OCT fields
to regions-of-interest is prohibitively difficult during surgical maneuvers. (3) Co-registration of volumetric OCT
data with the surgical field is challenging because fiducials are often confounded by the non-uniform illumination
and contrast of surgical microscopy. (4) Real-time volumetric OCT visualization is complex and time-consuming,
requiring cross-sectional fly-throughs or computationally expensive renderings that occlude subsurface features.
We recently developed multimodal intraoperative spectrally encoded coherence tomography and reflectometry
(iSECTR) technologies that allows for simultaneous and intrinsically co-registered en face reflectance and cross-
sectional OCT imaging. We hypothesize that (1) imaging data from 4D iSECTR of surgical dynamics will benefit
surgical decision-making and lead to improved functional outcomes; and (2) integration of imaging, registration,
segmentation, and feedback using heads-up display (HUD) visualization will enhance existing and enable novel
surgical maneuvers. We have assembled a multidisciplinary team of engineers and clinicians to perform
foundational ex vivo and in vivo imaging studies to (1) quantitatively assess the safety and utility of 4D iSECTR-
based surgical feedback; and (2) develop novel technologies, feedback mechanisms, and maneuvers that
integrate volumetric iSECTR data for image-guided ophthalmic surgery. Comprehensive 4D imaging of tissue-
instrument interaction dynamics (AIM 1) provides unprecedent data on structural changes resulting from surgical
manipulation that may be predictive of post-operative functional outcomes and enable image-based interrogation
of biomechanics and personalized surgical planning. Real-time surgical visualization and guidance (AIM 2) may
improve success rates of conventional surgical interventions as well as next-generation gene and stem cell
therapies. Image-guided surgery also may be compatible with robotic-assistance and telemanipulation in wide-
ranging surgical specialties outside of oph...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10200070
- **Project number:** 5R01EY030490-03
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Yuankai Kenny Tao
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $361,340
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10200070

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10200070, Intraoperative Optical Coherence Tomography for Ophthalmic Surgical Guidance (5R01EY030490-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10200070. Licensed CC0.

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