Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging systems for use in pediatric ophthalmic applications and related methods and computer program products

An optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging system for imaging an eye, the system comprising:

• a source having an associated source arm path;
• a reference arm having an associated reference arm path coupled to the source path, the reference arm path having an associated reference arm path length;
• a sample arm having an associated sample arm path coupled to the source arm, the sample arm comprising at least one lens, wherein the at least one lens has an associated focus adjustment configured to enable imaging a retina in one focal setting and to enable imaging a structure anterior to the retina within the posterior chamber in a second focal setting;
• and
• a reference arm path length adjustment module coupled to the reference arm,
• wherein a range of the reference arm adjustment is at least 15 mm;
• wherein 15 mm defines a optical path length difference between and eye length of a premature infant eye and an eye length of an adult eye;
• wherein the reference arm path length is adjusted coarsely to accommodate an eye length and finely to adjust to a prescribed offset between a reference position and a focal plane within the sample of the at least one lens;
• and
• wherein the at least one lens has a field curvature based on a curvature of a retina of the eye of the subject.

A computer program product for imaging an eye in an optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging system, the computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory, computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer readable program code comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to set a target reference arm path length of the OCT system such that the reference arm path length is based on an eye length of a subject;
• computer readable program code configured to obtain additional information about the subject relevant to the target reference arm path length;
• computer readable program code configured to recalibrate the reference arm path length based on the obtained information;
• computer readable program code configured to automatically adjust the reference arm path length based on the recalibrated reference arm path length, wherein the computer readable program code configured to automatically adjust comprises computer readable program code configured to adjust the reference arm path length at least 15 mm, wherein 15 mm defines a minimum optical path length difference between an eye length of a premature infant eye and an eye length of an adult eye and wherein the reference arm path length is adjusted coarsely to accommodate an eye length and finely to adjust to a prescribed offset between a reference position and a focal plane within the sample of the at least one lens;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to acquire an image using the OCT system having the adjusted reference arm path length and display the acquired image on an electronic display associated with the OCT system.