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.
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.
Authors: Helena Giannakaki-Zimmermann; Wolfgang Huf; Karen B Schaal; Kaspar Schürch; Chantal Dysli; Muriel Dysli; Anita Zenger; Lala Ceklic; Carlos Ciller; Stephanos Apostolopoulos; Sandro De Zanet; Raphael Sznitman; Andreas Ebneter; Martin S Zinkernagel; Sebastian Wolf; Marion R Munk Journal: Transl Vis Sci Technol Date: 2019-05-02 Impact factor: 3.283