You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Original Article
Colour versus grey-scale display of images on high-resolution spectral OCT
  1. M Brar1,
  2. D-U G Bartsch1,
  3. N Nigam1,
  4. F Mojana1,
  5. L Gomez1,2,
  6. L Cheng1,
  7. J Hedaya1,
  8. W R Freeman1
  1. 1
    Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Diego, Shiley Eye Center, La Jolla, California, USA
  2. 2
    Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Ophthalmic Subspecialties (ISEO), Tijuana, Mexico
  1. Dr W R Freeman, University of California, San Diego Department of Ophthalmology, Shiley Eye Center, 0946, Joan and Irwin Jacobs Retina Center, 9415 Campus Point Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; freeman{at}eyecenter.ucsd.edu

Abstract

Aim: To determine whether colour or grey-scale images from high-resolution spectral optical coherence tomography (OCT) are superior in visualising clinically important details of retinal structures.

Methods: Patients with macular pathologies were imaged using spectral OCT (OTI, Toronto, Canada). Two reviewers independently analysed the retinal structures and pathologies and graded them on a four-point scale on the basis of the visibility. A third reviewer masked to the results then reviewed images where there was a different score for colour versus grey scale.

Results: Statistical analysis showed the grey-scale image to be significantly better in visualising the details of epiretinal membrane, photoreceptor and retinal pigment epithelium layer morphology than the colour scale image (p = 0.00088–0.0006). In 16.17% of eyes, the colour image led to the false impression of photoreceptor disruption.

Conclusion: Grey-scale images are qualitatively superior to the colour-scale images on high-resolution spectral OCT. Colour images can be misleading, as the displayed colours are false colours, and the observer may see a dramatic change in colour and interpret that as a large change in the OCT reflectivity.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo.2008.146233

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Competing interests: None.

    • Funding: NIH grant EY007366, EY01623.

    • Ethics approval: Ethics approval was provided by University of California, San Diego.

    • Patient consent: Obtained.

    Linked Articles

    • At a glance
      At a glance
      Harminder S Dua Arun D Singh
      British Journal of Ophthalmology 2009; 93 1-1 Published Online First: 24 Apr 2009.