Assessment of ocular injuries using high-resolution 3D ultrasound

We developed a novel high resolution 3D ultrasound B-scan (3D-UBS) imaging system that provides automated 3D acquisition and easily interpretable, interactive 3D visualization, including en-face and oblique views of the whole eye. Early and accurate diagnosis of ocular trauma and other associated injuries is essential for future prevention of complications. Conventional 2D ultrasound is limited in its use due to lack of trained ultrasonographer at point-of-care, difficulty in finding the optimal imaging plane and lack of anatomical context for easy interpretation. 2D hand-held ultrasound is also limited in case of perforated globes. Computed tomography (CT) is expensive and cannot be utilized if perforating intra-ocular foreign bodies (IOFBs) are small, non-metallic, or organic in nature. This study aimed to address the unmet clinical need for advanced 3D visualization of IOFBs and ocular injuries with 3D-UBS. We imaged porcine eye models for IOFBs. 3D-UBS enabled easily-obtained, informative images of ocular injuries, without an expert as required in conventional 2D ultrasound. En face and oblique views provided by multiplanar reformatting allows selection of optimal planes after acquisition. Size and shape of the IOFBs can be detected more accurately with 3D-UBS. 3D-UBS also provides information on location of IOFBs with respect to other important ocular structures. 3D-UBS shows 2.4 times contrast improvement compared to CT in wooden IOFB visualization. Our study demonstrated that novel 3D-UBS can be used for assessing ocular injuries (i.e., identifying the location, size, and shape of IOFBs) which can guide the treatment process.