Human retinal microvascular imaging using adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy

BACKGROUND: Retinal microvascular imaging is an especially promising application of high resolution imaging since there are increasing options for therapeutic intervention and need for better structural and functional biomarkers to characterize ocular and systemic vascular diseases. MAIN BODY: Adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) is an emerging technology for improving in vivo imaging of the human retinal microvasculature, allowing unprecedented visualization of retinal microvascular structure, measurements of blood flow velocity, and microvascular network mapping. This high resolution imaging technique shows significant potential for studying physiological and pathological conditions of the retinal microvasculature noninvasively. CONCLUSION: This review will briefly summarize the abilities of in vivo human retinal microvasculature imaging in healthy controls, as well as patients with diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, and sickle cell retinopathy using AOSLO and discuss its potential contribution to scientific research and clinical applications.