Tomographic imaging apparatus, tomographic imaging method, image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program

A tomographic imaging method comprising:

• generating a nerve fiber bundle map;
• designating an arbitrary nerve fiber bundle in the nerve fiber bundle map;
• and
• causing a display unit to display a parameter of the designated nerve fiber bundle.

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• a first generation unit configured to generate a three-dimensional luminance image of a fundus of an eye to be examined, based on tomographic signals of different polarized light components obtained by dividing interference light;
• an extraction unit configured to extract a nerve fiber layer of the three-dimensional luminance image;
• a second generation unit configured to generate a map indicating a local change of the extracted nerve fiber layer and a map indicating a phase difference between the tomographic signals of different polarized light components;
• and
• a third generation unit configured to generate a map indicating a running direction of a nerve fiber bundle of the fundus by combining a map indicating the local change with respect to a region including a macula of the fundus and a map indicating the phase difference with respect to a region including an optic papilla of the fundus.

An image processing method comprising:

• generating a three-dimensional luminance image of a fundus of an eye to be examined, based on tomographic signals of different polarized light components obtained by dividing interference light;
• extracting a nerve fiber layer of the three-dimensional luminance image;
• generating a map indicating a local change of the extracted nerve fiber layer and a map indicating a phase difference between the tomographic signals of different polarized light components;
• and
• generating a map indicating a running direction of a nerve fiber bundle of the fundus by combining a map indicating the local change with respect to a region including a macula of the fundus and a map indicating the phase difference with respect to a region including an optic papilla of the fundus.