Since the first scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) was introduced in the early 1980s, this imaging technique has been adapted and optimized for various clinical applications based on different contrast mechanism. Reflectance imaging, where the back scattered light is detected, is widely used for eye tracking and as reference image for OCT applications. But also the reflectance modality itself has several important diagnostic applications: laser scanning tomography (SLT), imaging with different laser wavelengths (Multicolor contrast) and others. Fluorescence imaging channels with different excitation wavelengths were introduced to SLOs for angiography, i.e. for the visualization of the vascular system after intravenously injecting an appropriate dye, as well as for autofluorescence imaging of endogenous fluorophores within the retina.
This chapter gives an introduction to the history of SLO technology and a general overview on its clinical applications. In the following sections the focus is directed on one distinct clinical application for each of the major imaging modalities: reflectance, angiography and autofluorescence. First, the assessment of the optic nerve head for glaucoma diagnostic by means of laser scanning tomography is presented, before in the third section the clinical aspect of wide field SLO angiography is discussed. Finally, an introduction to quantitative autofluorescence (qAF) is given, a new research tool, which is used to measure the accumulation of lipofuscin within the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) for normal subjects and for patients with macular dystrophies.
Copyright 2019, The Author(s).