CLINICAL TECHNIQUES - CT & MRI and OCT and Ultrasound and Biometry Flashcards
Which imaging sequence of MRI is most likely coorelate with active orbital inflammation ie thyroid?
STIR-2 sequence MRI - bellies of muscles show enlargement and inflammation, but tendons are spared –> technique that suppresses signal from fat in order to enhance visibility form abnormalities in tissues
What is CT?
Multiple X ray images taken by tube rotating around a patient
What are the advantages and disadvantages of CT?
Pros:
1. Useful in showing bony lesions and calcifications and fractures
2. Useful for detecting metallic foreign body vs MRI
Cons:
1. Cannot differentiate well between different parts of the same organ / limited contrast as cannot differentiate between tissues of similar density
- Can miss very small lesions
- High ionising dose
Which MRI sequence is useful to highlight demyelination?
FLAIR.
Whats the difference in DWI and Functional MRI imaging?
DWI: Assess movement of water to characterise lesions
Functional: Assess difference in metabolic rate of tissues by detecting different oxygen concentrations
What are the advantages of MRI over CT?
- No ionising radiation - pregnant/children
- High soft tissue contrast
- No artefact from bone
- Vasculature imaged without contrast
What are the limitations to OCT? (3)
- Moderate dilation
- Transparent media
- Suseptible to motion artefact
- Patient co-operation
What is OCT?
Non-invasive noncontact imaging making use of near infrared light.
What is the mechanism of OCT?
- Low coherent light source is sent to a coupler and splits the beam
- One beam is sent to sample arm (the eye) and one beam is sent to reference arm
- Reference signal is reflected back by reference mirror and enters coupler which sends signals to detector.
- Same process occurs in sample arm except beam is backscattered when materials of different indices of refraction are encountered.
- these signals have inherent coherence and both together have an interference pattern which is picked up from detector and is shown on display.
What are the types of OCT (generations)?
Time Domain
Fourier Domain (Spectral domain and swept source OCT)
What is time domain OCT?
Uses monochromatic light source and uses the physical movement of the mirror (which changes optical length) to scan various depth of layers of retina –> TIME BASED MOVEMENT.
How many A scans can TD OCT do per second?
What is the axial resolution?
400 A Scans per second
Axial resolution: 8-10um
What is the problem with time-domain OCT? (4)
- Doesnt permit finer retinal structure visualisations - such as outer photoreceptor layers, RPE or choroid.
- Motion artefacts
- Less sharp and slow
- Low interscan repeatability.
What is the fourier domain OCT? (Spectral domain)
Uses a FIXED reference arm rather than a mobile reference arm.
Uses a broadband light source (840-850nm) to produce spectrum of wavelengths of backscattered light - sends multiple waves all at once, measured by high-speed spectrometer.
Then undergo fourier transformation to provide multiple A-scans with single exposure.
What is fourier’s transformation?
Decomposes a signal into the individual frequencies it is made up of.
What is the number of A scans per second? What is the axial resolution?
A scan: 18,000-70,000 A scans/s
Axial resolution: 5-7um.
What is the difference between swept source OCT vs spectral domain OCT?
- Uses tunable frequency swept LASER light source (1050nm) instead of reference mirror to sweep through a band of frequencies
- Undergoes inverse fournier transformation
What is the A scans / second of swept source OCT vs spectral OCT vs time domain OCT.
See table.
What are ultrasound waves? How are they generated?
Acoustic waves that have frequencies greater than 20 kilohertz
Acoustic waves are generated by vibration of piezoelectric crystal in the probe.
What is the relationship between frequency and wavelength of ultrasound?
Higher frequency –> shorter wavelength –> lesser depth of perception –> better resolution
Lower frequency –> longer wavelength –> greater depth of penetration –> lesser resolution
Which frequencies are used for anterior eye segment?
Which frequencies are used for posterior eye segment?
Which frequencies are used for orbit?
Anterior segment: 50MHz
Posterior segment: 20MHz
Orbit: 10MHz