[Potential of Adaptive Optics for the Diagnostic Evaluation of Hereditary Retinal Diseases]. / Adaptive Optiken ­ Möglichkeiten für die Diagnostik hereditärer Netzhauterkrankungen.

The use of adaptive optics in ophthalmoscopy is a breakthrough technological achievement. With AO ophthalmoscopes, the microscopic retinal structure can be visualised non-invasively and on a cellular level, allowing for cellular scale imaging of the retinal nerve fibre layer, the smallest retinal capillaries, rod and cone photoreceptors, and the retinal pigment epithelium mosaic in the living subject. Regarding the diagnostic evaluation of retinal diseases, the current research focuses on monogenetic retinal diseases, which - when better understood - may allow for conclusions to be drawn about other multifactorial diseases and their underlying mechanisms (model disease). For disease monitoring and current and future pharmacological intervention (e.g. gene therapy), they will help to better establish novel and reliable clinical endpoints. New AO imaging devices have just become commercially available, and the number of retinal pathologies visualised with AO is increasing. Recently, an AO-based microstimulation technique has been introduced, which offers the possibility to directly correlate retinal structure with visual function on a cellular level.

[Technical principles of adaptive optics in ophthalmology]. / Technische Grundlagen adaptiver Optiken in der Ophthalmologie.

During the last 25 years ophthalmic imaging has undergone a revolution. This review gives an overview of the possibilities of adaptive optics (AO) for ophthalmic imaging technologies and their development and illustrates that the role of ophthalmic imaging changed from the documentation of obvious abnormalities to the detection of microscopic yet significant conspicuities. This enables earlier and more precise diagnoses. The implementation of AO for imaging systems like fundus cameras, scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography has gained in importance. In recent years a couple of companies started developing commercially available AO systems, thus, indicating a future use in clinical routine.

[Histology of the living eye : Noninvasive microscopic structure and functional analysis of the retina with adaptive optics]. / Histologie im lebenden Auge : Nichtinvasive mikroskopische Struktur- und Funktionsanalyse der Netzhaut mit adaptiven Optiken.

Equipping an ophthalmoscope with adaptive optics (AO) offers access to the living human retina with unprecedented spatial resolution. With AO, cellular structures such as the nerve fiber layer, the microvasculature of the smallest retinal capillaries, rod and cone photoreceptors and the mosaic of the retinal pigment epithelium are directly observable. A large number of studies in the normal and diseased retina have already shown that this level of detail offers new insights into disease mechanisms and progression, and promises to identify early disease markers. In conjunction with functional testing of single photoreceptors that is possible with AO microstimulation, a structure-function relationship on the cellular scale is within reach. These technological advances offer new avenues for clinical ophthalmology, interventional efforts, and basic research of the function and dysfunction of vision.