# Clinical glaucoma management enabled by visible-light OCT

> **NIH NIH U01** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $631,924

## Abstract

Project Summary
This collaborative technology focused project seeks to develop, characterize, and validate visible-light optical
coherence tomography (vis-OCT) as a functional tool to transform the clinical management of glaucoma. We will
address two unmet needs in clinical glaucoma diagnosis and detection of progression: (1) the ability to measure
retinal sublayer structure and (2) to accurately assess local retinal hemoglobin oxygen saturation (sO2). The
earliest structural changes in glaucoma are thought to be a retraction of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) dendrites in
the inner plexiform layer (IPL). Specifically, this would occur in the outer IPL, where RGC “off” cells synapse.
Identification of loss of synapses, either by decreased scattering or by the change in IPL sublayers’ thicknesses,
could serve as an earlier and more sensitive biomarker for glaucoma than any other. Measuring retinal sO2 and
specific arteriole-venule couplets can determine the oxygen extraction in the regions served by those vessels.
Our preliminary data indicate that regions showing damage in glaucomatous eyes have lower oxygen extraction
than similar areas in healthy eyes. Our observation suggests that such oxygen extraction abnormalities can be
measured well beyond the “floor effect” threshold noted with conventional OCT, allowing assessment of disease
beyond the time point that conventional structural OCT becomes insensitive. To achieve our long-term goal, we
will focus on new vis-OCT optical system design, imaging protocols, and data processing methodologies to
identify both metabolic and ultra-fine anatomical alternations in early glaucoma, both of which are beyond the
capabilities of existing imaging technologies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10487592
- **Project number:** 5U01EY033001-02
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Joel S Schuman
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $631,924
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10487592

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10487592, Clinical glaucoma management enabled by visible-light OCT (5U01EY033001-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10487592. Licensed CC0.

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